HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 


HOW   TO    LEARN 
EASILY 

PRACTICAL     HINTS     ON 
ECONOMICAL    STUDY 

BY 
GEORGE  VAN  NESS  DEARBORN 

INSTRUCTOR     IN     PSYCHOLOGY    AND     EDUCATION     IN     THE    8AEGENT 
NORMAL  SCHOOL,  CAMBRIDGE  ;     PSYCHOLOGIST  AND  PHYSI- 
OLOGIST TO  THE   FORSYTH   DENTAL  INFIRMARY 
FOR  CHILDREN,    BOSTON  ;     ETC. 


NON-REFERT 


&MVAO-Q3S 


BOSTON 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND   COMPANY 

1916 


Copyright,  1916, 
By  Little,  Brown,  and  Company. 

All  rights  reserved 


Nortoootj  $rfgs 

Set  up  and  elactrotyped  by  J.  S.  Cushing  Co.,  Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 

Presswork  by  S.  J.  Parkhill  &  Co.,  Boston,  Mass,,  U.S.A. 


TO 

F.  W.  N. 

IMO   PECTORE 


PREFACE 

Within  the  last  decade  psychology  has  become, 
in  a  sense,  the  gauge  of  all  the  sciences  and  the 
most  basal  of  them  all.  Psychology  has  taken  the 
place  long  held  in  common  by  chemistry  and 
physics,  a  change  which  was  inevitable  for  the 
best  of  reasons  —  that  by  natural  necessity  the 
science  of  mind  underlies  our  whole  knowledge 
of  matter.  With  all  this  significant  and  potent 
progress  psychology  unquestionably  has  neglected 
some  of  its  inherent  obligations  to  the  twenty -five 
million  American  students  (twenty-two  million 
of  whom  are  in  school)  who  are  expending  precious 
time  and  energy  and  money  in  learning  —  some 
of  them,  to  speak  more  accurately,  in  trying  to 
learn.  This  vast  multitude  of  our  youths  and 
maidens  are  making  confident  investment  of 
their  young  years,  the  best  they  have  or  ever  will 
have,  in  the  wholly  necessary  means  of  future  live- 
lihood and  anticipated  happiness  for  themselves 


viii  PREFACE 

and  their  hoped-for  families.  Academic  psychol- 
ogy with  its  highly  productive  resources  gladly 
owns  to  these  the  obligation  of  giving  all  it  can  to 
make  this  learning-process  easier,  more  pleasant, 
and  in  all  ways  more  productive. 

The  present  handbook  strives  toward  the  at- 
tainment of  this  high  utilitarian  aim.  For  this 
not  unworthy  purpose  it  employs  in  part  both  the 
newer,  important,  concrete  discoveries  and  wider 
points  of  view  reached  in  the  last  few  years  of  edu- 
cational discussion,  as  well  as  the  often  more 
familiar  pedagogic  material  derived  in  the  slow 
ages  of  school-experience  alone,  now  more  and  more 
discredited. 

Because  of  the  complete  mutual  interaction  and 
integration  of  "mind"  and  "body"  in  the  in- 
dividual, practically  everything  in  this  book  ap- 
plies in  some  degree  or  other,  —  and  when  prop- 
erly adapted,  as  accurately,  —  to  motor  learning, 
to  the  growth  of  bodily  skill  in  all  its  phases,  as 
to  that  learning  popularly  called  "mental."  To 
learn  is  to  become  able,  and  ability  is  always  both 
organic  and  psychical. 

The  advice  is  written  for  the  learner,  but  often- 
times the  learner  may  best  obtain  it  through  the 
intelligent  teacher  —  a  responsible  privilege  some 


PREFACE  ix 

teachers  ignore.  Those  students  will  heed  it  most 
who  realize  to  the  effective  degree  that  the  sav- 
ing principles  of  economics  should  underlie  every 
rational  endeavor,  allowing  neither  time  nor 
energy  nor  other  of  the  riches  of  our  precious, 
passing  youth  to  be  wasted.  The  one  aim  of  the 
book,  then,  is  to  be  of  some  immediate,  practical 
use  to  those,  young  or  old,  who,  in  our  workaday 
world,  are  engaged,  whether  vocationally  or  other- 
wise, in  intensive  learning. 

In  these  days  of  highly  organized  play  and  rec- 
reation, often  of  an  elaborate  nature,  it  is  worth 
noting  that  these  principles  and  hints  apply  as 
well  in  this  field  as  in  that  of  education  proper. 

Part  of  the  first  chapter  has  been  published 
already,  and  under  its  present  title,  in  "The 
Medical  Record  ",  New  York,  and  is  reproduced 
here  through  the  kindness  of  the  editor,  Dr. 
Thomas  Lathrop  Stedman.  Part  of  the  substance 
of  the  other  chapters  appeared  as  a  serial  in  "  The 
Scientific  American  Supplement"  in  the  spring 
of  1916. 

The  author  hereby  expresses  his  cordial  thanks 
to  the  scholars  whose  work  and  wisdom  he  has 
made  use  of,  whether  with  or  without  explicit 
license. 


x  PREFACE 

I  wish  to  express  my  appreciation  to  Messrs. 
Little,  Brown,  and  Company  for  permission  to 
reproduce  extracts  from  my  recent  book,  "The 
Influence  of  Joy " ;  to  Messrs.  D.  Appleton  and 
Company  for  permission  to  quote  from  Munster- 
berg's  "Psychology,  General  and  Applied",  etc.; 
to  Professor  J.  Carleton  Bell,  of  the  Brooklyn 
Training  School,  editor  of  "The  Journal  of  Edu- 
cational Psychology",  for  permitting  me  to  quote 
a  number  of  excerpts  from  that  important  peri- 
odical of  educational  science ;  and  to  the  editors 
of  "  The  Journal  of  Philosophy,  Psychology,  and 
Scientific  Methods,"  and  "  The  American  Journal 
of  Psychology,"  Professor  F.  J.  E.  Woodbridge 
and  President  G.  Stanley  Hall,  respectively. 

G.  V.  N.  D. 

Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
May,  1916. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface vii 

CHAPTER 

I    Economy  in  Study 1 

II  Observation  and  the  Taking  of  Notes         .  44 

III    Educative  Imagination 77 

IV  Books  and  Their  Educative  Use    .        .        .116 

V  Is  Your  "Thinker"  in  Order?        .        .        .  148 

VI  Examination-Preparedness       ....  203 

Index 223 


HOW   TO    LEARN   EASILY 

CHAPTER  I 

ECONOMY  IN  STUDY 

We  must  frankly  face  the  fact  that  it  is  possible 
that  some  students  in  every  class  would  be  more 
useful  to  themselves  and  to  the  world  in  a  "job", 
either  on  the  front  or  back  end  of  a  street  car ;  or 
in  a  good,  substantial  position  in  a  machine  shop, 
in  a  laundry,  or  in  a  confectionery  store,  or  some- 
thing like  that.  For  it  is  possible,  if  not  probable, 
that  a  certain  percentage  of  a  class  are  not  at  all  of 
a  scholarly  "make-up",  so  that  they  can  never  be 
a  success  at  any  learned  pursuit.  The  place  to 
discover  this  is  early  in  school,  lest  otherwise  they 
waste  precious  time. 

Interest  in  a  Subject.  —  If  students  are  naturally 
of  a  scholarly  disposition  it  is  much  easier  for  them 
to  study  effectively  than  otherwise  it  could  be. 
But  whether  scholarly  or  not  they  must  first  have 
a  real  interest  in  that  which  they  wish  to  study. 

1 


2  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

If  they  have  grown  up  without  the  "natural 
scholarly  interest",  it  is  their  duty  to  acquire  it. 
But  when  a  real  interest  has  been  really  acquired, 
they  will  learn  almost  reflexly  and  without  any 
great  effort,  because  it  will  be  a  'pleasure  to  them. 
So  this  matter  is  truly  worth  while.  Furthermore, 
students  must  have  a  continually  changing  and  a 
continually  developing  interest.  In  every  case, 
if  they  wish  to  economize  time  and  energy  and  to 
learn  adequately,  they  will,  as  a  preliminary,  de- 
velop an  interest  in  the  subject  they  are  studying. 

Some,  in  fact  millions,  never  go  far  enough  or 
deep  enough  to  develop  an  interest  —  never  deep 
enough  to  realize  how  unimaginably  marvellous  is 
their  world  of  matter  and  life  and  mind.  This 
may  be  "fate"  or  it  may  be  just  laziness. 

The  best  way  to  develop  an  interest  in  any 
subject  is  by  collateral  reading.  We  should  read 
broadly  on  subjects  allied  more  or  less  closely  to 
what  we  are  studying.  When  it  is  physiology, 
for  example,  we  should  read  about  related  sciences 
—  physics,  psychology,  and  the  enticing  histology 
of  the  nervous  system.  There  are  all  sorts  of 
exceedingly  interesting  material  to  be  obtained 
from  the  libraries,  which  is  related  to  this  par- 
ticular subject,  complex  and  fascinating  in  itself. 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  3 

Another  way  to  develop  interest  is  by  thinking 
for  ourselves  of  those  relations.  A  third  method 
is  to  associate  with  people  who  already  have  an 
interest.  Fortunate  is  the  student  who  can  have 
the  advantage  of  association  with  masters  of  the 
subject  in  hand !  Whatever  be  the  means,  we 
must  have  interest. 

Whatever  we  have  an  interest  in,  we  enjoy 
doing,  and  that  is  the  reason  why  well-adapted 
work,  in  the  long  run,  is  the  most  certain,  if  not 
the  greatest,  of  human  delights.  Many  people 
think  of  work  as  a  necessary  something,  disagree- 
able rather  than  agreeable,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
it  is  certainly  one  of  life's  most  permanent  and  sub- 
stantial satisfactions  and  delights.  Work  (more 
properly  called  drudgery)  that  is  not  adapted 
to  the  individual  is  undeniably  unpleasant.  Pro- 
fessors in  our  colleges  and  universities,  for  ex- 
ample, rarely  grumble  about  their  work,  and  this 
is  not  primarily  because  their  work  on  the  whole  is 
pleasant,  but  more  because  it  is  well  adapted  to 
them ;  for  otherwise  they  give  it  up.  It  is  the  vast 
body  of  men  who  do  not  as  yet  have  work  which  is 
adapted  to  them,  who  do  not  like  to  work.  All 
great,  useful,  and  original  work  ordinarily  is  done 
under  such  conditions  that  the  work  is  enjoyable, 


4  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

there  being  always  enough  of  interest  about  it  to 
make  it  pleasurable.  It  is  under  these  conditions, 
furthermore,  and  generally  under  these  alone,  that 
the  largest  amount  of  energy  is  expended.  This 
basal  relationship  is  expressed  in  the  science  of 
efficiency  in  the  term  "  Sthen-euphoric  Index", 
meaning  the  more  or  less  direct  ratio  between 
the  expenditure  of  energy  in  any  action  and  its 
inherent  pleasantness.  "Enjoy  your  work  and 
you  will  most  likely  expend  a  very  large  amount 
of  energy  in  it."  This  is  the  practical  corollary 
of  this  fundamental  index  of  organic  dynamics. 

The  writer  has  published  recently  l  a  chapter  on 
"The  Economics  of  Happiness",  a  pioneer  dis- 
cussion of  this  perhaps  sometime  important  topic, 
and  it  is  so  germane  to  the  task  of  suggesting  the 
easiest  modes  of  doing  mental  work  that  much  of 
this  discussion  must  be  repeated  here. 

The  scientific  economics  of  joy  and  happiness 
remains  to  be  developed.  In  other  terms,  joy  has 
a  valuation  (even  if  not  yet  in  figures)  in  Wall 
Street  on  the  bulletins  of  the  Stock  Exchange ;  in 
the  factory  office ;  among  the  maids  in  your  home ; 
in  the  coal  mine ;  aboard  ship;  in  your  own  private 
accounts  which  you  keep  to  satisfy  the  income-tax 

T  "The  Influence  of  Joy."     Little,  Brown,  and  Company.     Boston. 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  5 

collector.  Daily  joy  has  money-value  as  well  as 
soul  value  even  in  the  manual  trades.  And  soon 
some  man  (or,  more  likely,  perhaps,  some  ingen- 
ious woman  economist)  will  begin  to  reduce  it  to 
grades,  to  "standardize"  it,  and  to  find  its  mean 
financial  value  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
workers. 

There  is  an  inherent  relationship  as  deep  as  is 
conceivable  in  our  human  personality  between  the 
experience  of  a  satisfaction  which  merges  into  plain 
enjoyment  and  the  activity,  fusing  into  the  capa- 
bility, of  the  body.  This  relationship  is  "imma- 
nent", as  the  metaphysicians  used  to  say,  in  our 
self-reliance,  in  our  pride  of  life,  extending  through 
the  gamut  from  mere  baseless  vanity  upward  to 
the  substantial  manhood  or  womanhood  which  is 
certain  of  its  worth  and  of  its  powers.  The  keen 
and  great  thinker  Spinoza,  nearly  three  centuries 
ago,  put  this  primal  relationship  into  plain  Latin 
in  three  successive  propositions  of  his  "  Ethics  " 
(Part  III,  Propositions  LIII,  LIV,  and  LV), 
translated  by  Elwes : 

When  the  mind  regards  itself  and  its  own 
power  of  activity,  it  feels  pleasure :  and  that 
pleasure  is  greater  in  proportion  to  the  distinctness 
wherewith  it  conceives  itself  and  its  own  power  of 


6  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

activity.  The  mind  endeavours  to  conceive  only 
such  things  as  assert  its  power  of  activity.  When 
the  mind  contemplates  its  own  weakness,  it  feels 
pain  thereat. 

This  emphasizes  one  side :  that  we  take  delight 
in  our  capability  and  vice  versa;  the  other  side, 
that  our  powers  increase  with  the  agreeableness  of 
the  process,  it  has  taken  a  busy  scientific  century 
to  demonstrate.  Let  us  turn  now  to  its  more 
practical  meaning. 

If  one  compares  the  larger  workshops  of  to-day 
with  those  of  a  few  decades  ago,  one  sees  at  a 
glance  how  much  has  been  done  in  like  direction, 
but  with  week-day  good  health  and  productive 
hygiene  as  the  guiding  star  rather  than  happiness. 
It  need  not  be  suggested  that  the  two  are  close 
relatives,  daughters  both  of  the  same  sound  and 
handsome  couple,  the  Busy  Normalities.  But 
happiness  may  be  furthered  for  her  own  sake, 
being  quite  worth  while  herself  as  well  as  a  com- 
plement to  her  hygienic  sister. 

Workaday  joy  has  economic  status,  because 
happiness  is  strongly  dynamogenic,  increasing  the 
expenditure  of  energy  in  every  kind  of  work. 
Joyous  behavior  is  more  vivacious ;  and  a  happy 
girl  in  a  paper-box  factory  will  probably  make  at 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  7 

least  five  per  cent  more  boxes  in  a  day  than  the 
same  girl,  unhappy,  can  pile  up.  Moreover,  the 
work  done  under  the  stimulus  of  joy  is  not  only 
faster  but  better  in  every  way,  for  it  means  an 
attentive  interest  in  the  adjustments,  making 
them  more  exact. 

However  considerable  the  efficiency  increase  in 
manual  vocations,  in  those  that  are  commonly 
termed  mental  (as  if  all  such  were  not  also  neuro- 
muscular as  well !)  the  productive  advantage  is 
far  greater  still.  Here  speed  becomes  usually  of 
minor  account,  the  quality  being  of  importance 
out  of  proportion  to  the  time  required.  And 
happiness  urges  its  own  perfection  on  what  it 
helps  create.  The  practical  result  of  this  two- 
phased  principle  of  creative  efficiency,  and  some- 
what in  ratio  with  the  psychic  freedom  of  the  work, 
is  that  forms  of  art  and  philosophy  and  notably 
creative  literature  ordinarily  are  actually  depen- 
dent more  or  less  on  it.  The  author,  at  a  recent 
"Shop-talk"  of  the  Boston  Authors'  Club,  made 
a  little  more  explicit  some  of  this  dependence 
under  the  title  "The  Author's  Stheneuphoric 
Index."     In  part  he  said : 

In  its  details  this  close  association  between 
happiness,  or  contentment  akin  thereto,  and  the 


8  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

highest  creative  efficiency  is  a  long  and  much 
involved  story  with  complex  plot  within  plot  and 
incidents  innumerable,  whose  scenario  its  Infinite 
Author  is  provokingly  slow  and  hesitant  to  reveal 
(on  this  particular  speck  of  the  cosmos  at  least). 
My  present  years  are  in  part  employed  in  an 
attempt  to  understand  this  story  whose  practical 
meaning,  however  we  view  it,  is  so  impressive.  It 
is  just  one  little  phase  of  the  master-knot  of  human 
mystery  —  the  relations  of  the  body  and  the  mind, 
which  in  its  last  analysis  reduces  to  the  structure 
and  the  mode  of  action  of  the  human  nervous 
system,  by  all  means  the  magnum  opus  of  Evolu- 
tion up  to  our  era.  The  gist  of  the  matter,  the 
grist  of  this  milling,  appears  to  be  that  fatigue  and 
pain  and  worry  and  impatience  and  real  unpleas- 
antness of  every  kind  related  to  authorship  and 
other  creative  work  are  abnormalities  which  actu- 
ally diminish  the  speed  and  mar  the  quality  of  our 
entire  creative  efficiency.  It  is  somewhat  as  if 
the  course  and  the  rate  of  a  trolley  car  in  our  pres- 
ent wretched  system  were  actually  impaired  by 
the  wheels'  squeak  and  the  smell  of  the  bad  air 
and  the  personal  repulsion  and  the  jolt  and  the 
whole  general  impiety  of  the  interior  atmosphere. 
And  sometimes  in  very  sooth  these  are  so  impaired 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  9 

—  as  from  quarrels  with  the  conductor  or  by 
withdrawals  because  of  the  bad  conditions  within. 
Fatigue  and  unpleasantness  of  every  sort  may  find 
their  sanctions  in  the  world's  last  reckoning,  for 
philosophy  as  well  as  for  religion  and  theology. 
But  so  far  as  the  definite  practical  economics  of  a 
workaday  world  is  concerned,  there  is  little  doubt 
that  for  the  most  part  organic  happiness  makes 
for  greatly  increased  productiveness  both  in 
quality  and  in  quantity. 

Be  not  misled  by  probable  personal  memories 
of  "forcing  yourself  to  do  excellent  work  when  it 
was  most  unpleasant",  etc.,  etc.  Two  ideas 
seem  especially  to  belie  this  fallacy  :  (1)  the  inex- 
cusable waste  of  nerve  strength  necessary  to  force 
the  association  of  ideas  along  the  paths  which  for 
efficiency  should  always  be,  so  to  say,  downhill ; 
(2)  even  more  frequent,  perhaps,  a  confusion  of 
terms,  the  mistaking  and  misinterpretation  of 
feelings  due  to  ennui,  and  lassitude,  for  a  real 
dysphoria  or  emotional  unpleasantness  under- 
lying the  action  of  the  nervous  system,  in  short, 
worry  and  true  fatigue. 

In  general  these  last,  the  contrary  of  our  more  or 
less  symbolic  "joy,"  seem  to  be  of  practical  eco- 
nomic importance  in  freely  creative   work.     To 


10  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

demonstrate  this  proposition,  however,  to  set  forth 
scientifically  the  details  of  this,  the  very  heart  of 
our  matter,  would  take  us  into  technicalities  of 
physiology  and  psychology  wholly  out  of  place 
here.  And  you'll  all  be  jolly  well  content,  as  our 
English  cousins  say,  to  avoid  the  stress  and  strain, 
and  so  merely  be  assured  that  such  wholly  un- 
domesticated  and  unauthorized  creatures  as  the 
cortical  nerve-cell  cytoplasm,  internal  secretions, 
blood  pressure,  and  numerous  like  things  underlie 
what  we  are  slowly  learning  about  this  general 
relationship  of  unhappiness  and  unpleasantness 
to  creative  inefficiency  or  incapacity,  objectively 
considered.  On  the  other  hand,  your  own  interests 
it  may  be,  as  well  as  scientific  theory,  compel  me  to 
assure  you  that  the  practical  fact  seems  to  be  sub- 
stantially as  I  have  said  :  It  is  better  for  your  true 
"efficiency"  that  you  should  not  do  creative  work 
at  all  at  any  given  time  than  that  you  should  do  it 
when  it  is  distinctly  an  unpleasant  task,  that  is, 
whenever  the  high  quality  be  the  aim.  This  is 
true  of  all  highly-skilled  work,  as  Professor  W.  F. 
Book  has  shown.  Where  quality  and  progressive 
efficiency  count,  it  is  preeminently  true  of  (new) 
creative  work.  But  nowhere  else  certainly  than 
in  literary  work  are  materials  and  methods  and 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  11 

results  so  wholly  free,  and  therefore  so  wholly 
subject  to  the  law.  Mind  and  body  are  one,  and 
language  is  an  integral  portion  of  the  human  mind, 
and  of  the  human  body  which  expresses  and 
conditions  it. 

It  is  not  only  a  matter,  however,  of  actual 
capability,  but  also  of  wasteless  capability.  If  we 
would  reach  our  highest  and  greatest  efficiency, 
do  the  best  for  ourselves  in  the  long  run  and  strug- 
gle, we  must  here  as  elsewhere  consider  "safety 
first."  To  push  too  hard  against  fatigue,  con- 
tinued disinclination,  or  positive  unpleasantness, 
is  to  be  wasteful  of  the  best  we  have,  or  can  have,  as 
creators.  And  there's  never  any  excuse  for  waste, 
anywhere,  under  any  conditions,  but,  least  of  all, 
of  a  waste  of  our  nerve  force,  of  our  vital  energy, 
which  goes  apace  but  does  not  readily  return. 

The  painters  and  sculptors  and  the  musicians 
long  have  realized  and  practised  this  principle  as 
a  necessary  condition  of  their  best  creative  work. 
Let  the  painters  teach  you,  then,  their  easily- 
learned  lesson  !  those  of  you  who  have  not  already 
found  this  broad  but  (for  once)  straight  road  for 
yourselves. 

When  the  different  phases  of  creative  work 
shall  have  been  studied  along  this  general  method, 


12  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

but  with  actual  experimental  data  and  mathemat- 
ical results,  then  at  length  the  economics  of  happi- 
ness will  have  been  written  in  part.  Herbert 
Spencer,  Bain,  Miinsterberg,  Grant  Allen,  H.  R. 
Marshall,  Max  Meyer,  Harvey,  and  numerous 
others  already  have  taken  this  matter  a  little  way 
along  its  physiologic  road,  far  beyond  Jeremy 
Bentham  and  the  Utilitarianism  of  Mill.  But  in 
spite  of  these,  which  are,  as  it  were,  the  steam 
engines  and  the  electric  motors  of  transportation, 
the  true  ultimate  internal-combustion  engine 
which  will  carry  us  along  in  contentment  to  the 
goal  of  hedonistic  economics,  although  invented, 
is  yet  to  be  employed.  Along  this  splendid  road- 
way one  speeds  at  will,  and  the  ride,  although  a 
ride  of  joy,  results  for  a  certainty  in  no  disaster. 

Nearly  every  word  of  this  brief  account  of  the 
joy-efficiency  ratio  is  applicable  to  the  learning 
process.  We  learn  fastest  when  we  enjoy  our 
study.  We  learn  only  at  great  extravagance  of 
effort  and  of  emotion  when  method  or  teacher  or 
other  conditions  makes  the  subject  and  its  mas- 
tery hateful  or  consistently  annoying.  How 
important  in  practice  in  the  minds  of  thousands 
and  thousands  of  our  brightest  grammar  and  high 
school  children  is  this  certain  relationship !     The 


ECONOMY  IN   STUDY  13 

sthen-eupkoric  index  certainly  needs  both  theo- 
retical discussion  and  practical  application  in  its 
relation  to  all  our  schools.1 

After  having  acquired  a  good  interest  and  under- 
stood the  relations  between  it,  enjoyment,  initia- 
tive, and  energy,  the  learning  process  proper  may 
be  considered  next.  There  are  two  kinds  of  learn- 
ing as  a  procedure,  one  of  which  is  a  conscious 
process,  conscious,  deliberate  study ;  while  the 
second  is  another  mode  of  learning,  of  which  many 
are  not  even  aware,  namely,  subconscious  learning 
—  by  observation  and  association,  more  or  less 
unconscious. 

Conscious  or  Deliberate  Study.  —  When  we  think 
of  study,  most  of  us  consider  only  conscious, 
deliberate  study,  reading,  or  "grinding",  usually 
in  some  book  or  other.  This  process  is  essentially 
a  checking  or  restraining  process,  that  which  we 
call  in  physiology  and  in  psychology  "inhibition", 
an  incentive  of  some  sort  to  check  some  active 
process  by  a  normal  influence.  The  process  of 
conscious  study  is  one  of  an  inhibitory  nature  — 
in  its  ultimate  analysis  the  essence  of  humanity 
and  of  its  civilization  and  culture. 

1  See  also  the  writer's  "  The  Sthenic  Index  in  Education",  Peda- 
gogical Seminary,  June,  1912. 


14  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

In  the  first  place  we  have  to  inhibit  fatigue  when 
we  "grind."  We  are  tired  and  would  like  to  go  to 
bed,  or  to  go  outside  for  a  walk,  or  to  some  place 
of  amusement  that  is  restful.  Theoretically  there 
should  be  no  fatigue.  W^ork  should  be  so  arranged, 
alternating  with  rest  and  exercise  and  eating,  that 
there  should  be  no  appreciable  and  depressing 
fatigue.  This  inhibition  seeks  a  more  pleasant 
occupation.  Billy  calls  around  to  play  "  old  maid  " 
or  something  or  other;  or  Cousin  Susie  wants  us 
to  go  to  the  movies.  Then  there  are  many  dis- 
tractions which  have  to  be  inhibited ;  the  reckless 
automobiles  or  carting  on  the  avenue,  cats  on  the 
back  fence,  a  piano-torture  from  the  next  room,  or 
someone  beyond  all  humanity  trying  to  play  on 
the  violin.  All  sorts  of  sensory  stimuli  have  to 
be  kept  out  of  the  effective  mind.  The  desire  to 
change  must  be  inhibited,  the  perfectly  normal 
tendency  to  change  occupation  and  thus  get 
rested. 

Study,  then,  so  far  as  deliberate,  is  the  forcing 
of  the  mental  processes  along  new  pathways,  the 
forcing  of  nerve-impulses  through  groups  of  per- 
haps thousands  of  neurones  where  they  have  not 
been  exactly  before.  When  interest  is  acquired 
and  other  things  are  right  and  we  are  in  good 


ECONOMY   IN  STUDY  15 

physiological  condition,  it  is  a  real  pleasure  truly 
to  grind.  The  habit  of  even  this  kind  of  study  is 
easily  acquired,  much  more  easily  in  most  of  us 
than  we  think.  The  habit  of  inhibitory,  forceful 
grinding  on  difficult  study-subjects  is  soon  ac- 
quired if  we  give  ourselves  a  fair  chance  to  acquire 
it;  and  knowledge  and  understanding  will  repre- 
sent the  comfort  of  our  wives  and  children,  for  the 
two  will  be  largely  our  earning  capital. 

We  should  beware  of  false  study,  dozing :  try- 
ing to  hold  the  eyes  open  while  the  brain  is  shut 
tight.  In  such  cases  the  brain  is  not  open,  for 
the  sensory  paths  and  the  association  paths  are 
closed.  If  we  cannot  force  an  interest  or  attention 
on  what  we  are  studying,  we  should  rest  entirely 
for  a  few  minutes  or  else  open  the  windows,  stir 
about,  and  force  the  issue.  Or,  if  conditions  are 
such  that  we  cannot  possibly  give  our  attention 
to  the  subject  in  hand,  as  may  happen  readily  in 
fatigue,  we  should  give  it  up.  Unless  we  can  give 
our  whole  attention  to  whatever  we  are  studying, 
it  is  of  little  or  no  account  to  us,  and  much  worse 
than  that,  it  gets  us  into  the  bad  habit  of  sitting 
with  a  book  before  us  and  pretending  to  ourselves 
that  we  are  studying  when,  in  reality,  the  brain- 
neurones  are  not  getting  hold  of  the  facts  at  all. 


16  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

The  loss  of  a  little  time  is  of  no  account  compared 
with  the  misfortune  of  this  habit. 

There  should  be  no  rote-learning.  There  are 
extremely  few  things  that  are  properly  learned  by 
rote,  and  it  is  well  to  avoid  attempting  to  learn 
in  this  way.  In  the  long  run  it  is  a  great  waste. 
No  lecturer  or  quiz-master  who  knows  his  peda- 
gogical business  will  give  out  his  material  or  opin- 
ions so  that  a  student  can  take  them  down  in  the 
form  of  formulae  and  "run  it  in"  on  an  examina- 
tion or  elsewhere.  A  lecture  should  be,  almost 
always,  explanation  and  not  description ;  lectures 
are  properly  complementary  to  texts.  Facts  and 
principles  should  be  learned  by  concept,  not  by 
word. 

There  are  certain  physiological  requisites  for 
study,  especially  five  things  of  a  hygienic  physio- 
logical nature  which  must  be  mentioned :  (1) 
good  health,  (2)  abundant  outdoor  muscular 
exercise,  (3)  abundant  natural  air,  (4)  abundant 
proper  food,  and  (5)  abundant  sleep. 

It  is  necessary  for  a  student  to  have  good  health, 
else  he  is  inexcusably  wasteful.  We  cannot 
possibly  study,  for  example,  with  eye-strain,  for 
this  inflicts  a  continuous  strain  on  the  brain  and 
on  the  whole  nervous   system,   which   depresses 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  17 

the  vigor  of  the  mental  action.  Students  should 
not  think  of  studying  when  they  have  a  headache, 
for  at  such  a  time  the  brain  is  congested  with 
blood.  Under  such  circumstances  it  would  be 
more  economical  to  take  a  brisk,  erect,  longish 
walk  out-of-doors,  or  to  do  almost  anything  except 
study.  For  a  like  reason,  we  should  not  try  to 
study  when  we  are  ill,  say  with  a  bad  cold  in  the 
head  even,  a  mild  influenza,  or  anything  of  that 
sort.  Some  try  to  study  when  they  are  at  home 
"sick",  which  is  absurd,  unless  it  is  a  broken  leg 
or  something  of  that  non-neural  nature.  It  is 
very  necessary  that  a  successful  student  should 
he  free  from  worry.1  We  should  not  stay  a  student 
and  allow  ourselves  to  worry  about  the  family 
skeleton,  illness  in  the  home,  or  other  things,  even 
though  they  be  of  such  real  importance.  If 
worrying  interferes  with  the  business  of  studying, 
we  should  either  give  up  worrying  or  postpone  the 
business,  for  certainly  we  cannot  do  both  at  the 
same  time.  In  some  cases,  study  can  be  made  to 
force  the  worry  out  of  the  head ;  if  so,  it  is  well. 
We  should  take  abundant  gross  muscular  exercise. 

1  See,  for  the  therapeutics  of  worry  and  nerve-waste  in  general,  a 
monograph  called  "Nerve- Waste",  Health  Education  League  Book- 
let, No.  27,  Boston,  second  edition,  1914. 


18  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

The  reason  for  this  is  that  exercise  stimulates  the 
circulation,  and  "keeps  the  cobwebs  out  of  the 
brain",  the  spinal  cord,  and  other  important  nerve- 
masses.  Muscles,  as  well  as  brains,  are  used  in 
thinking,  and  they  don't  work  so  well  when  they 
are  flabby  and  out  of  tone,  and  poorly  supplied 
with  oxygen  and  clogged  with  carbon  dioxide. 
Too  much  exercise,  on  the  other  hand,  must  be 
avoided,  since  it  employs  the  brain  and  so  tires  it 
beyond  use  for  study. 

Abundant  natural  outdoor  Air.  —  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  study  out-of-doors,  as  we  can  have  plenty 
of  outdoor  air  indoors  by  the  simple  expedient  of 
opening  the  windows.  Air  of  the  proper  tempera- 
ture and  proper  humidity  is  essential.  Moving 
air,  properly  moist  and  properly  cool  (68°  F.),  is 
the  ideal.1 

We  should  have  abundant  food,  but  not  too  much. 
The  ideal  is  food  that  is  easily  digestible  and  taken 
often.  Four  moderate  meals  a  day  taken  regu- 
larly, is  far  better  for  a  student  than  two  over- 
large.  Coffee  may  be  taken  if  necessary  for  suc- 
cessful study.     There  are  many  authors  who  do 

1  For  a  discussion  of  the  need  of  moving  air  and  of  other  hygienic 
conditions,  see  the  writer's  "Certain  Further  Factors  in  the  Physi- 
ology of  Euphoria  ",  Psychological  Review,  May,  1914. 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  19 

good  and  abundant  creative  work  under  the  influ- 
ence of  tea  or  of  coffee,  essentially  alike  in  their 
stimulant  action.  Alcohol  is  a  poisonous  de- 
pressant and  not  a  stimulant  at  all,  save  indirectly 
on  the  heart. 

Students,  to  be  efficient,  must  have  abundant 
sleep.  Ten  hours  is  little  too  much.  There  must 
be  no  study  within  an  hour,  at  least,  after  eating. 
On  the  other  hand,  gentle  ambulatory  exercise 
helps  digestion.  It  is  certain  that  if  the  blood  is 
doing  its  work  in  the  stomach,  enough  of  it  cannot 
be  at  the  same  time  in  the  brain,  and  the  brain 
cannot  work  without  its  normal  abundance  of 
blood.  So  that  it  is  quite  absurd  to  think  of 
studying  to  good  advantage  immediately  after  a 
hearty  meal.  It  is  considered  by  many  a  good 
thing  to  take  cat-naps  at  times  through  the  day. 
Food  digests  best  of  all  when  we  are  asleep.  We 
should  not  try  to  carry  on  our  work  on  the  boa- 
constrictor  plan  of  taking  one  big  meal  every  half- 
year  and  then  going  to  sleep  for  the  next  six 
months !  The  boa-constrictor  is  a  really  poor 
student.  Ten  hours  sleep  is  none  too  much,  and 
cat-naps  certainly  are  excellent,  for  a  short 
nap,  even  of  five  or  ten  minutes,  gives  a  large 
amount  of  cerebral  rest;    for  even  a  five-minute 


20  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

nap  takes  the  blood  for  a  moment  out  of  the  brain, 
stirs  up  things  there  generally,  and  makes  us 
ready  for  a  good  siege  of  study.  Professor  William 
James  and,  more  recently,  Professor  C.  E.  Sea- 
shore, of  the  University  of  Iowa,  have  called  atten- 
tion to  the  real  importance  of  this  matter,  cor- 
roborated, as  it  is,  by  well-known  principles  of 
elementary  physiology  and  by  the  psychology  of 
efficiency. 

Professor  James,  in  his  extremely  important 
"Talks  to  Teachers,"  writes  as  follows  :  — 

"We  have  lately  had  a  number  of  accomplished  Hin- 
doo visitors  at  Cambridge,  who  talk  freely  of  life  and 
philosophy.  More  than  one  of  them  has  confided  to  me 
that  the  sight  of  our  faces,  all  contracted  as  they  are 
with  the  habitual  American  over-intensity  and  anxiety 
of  expression,  and  our  ungraceful  and  distorted  atti- 
tudes, in  sitting,  made  on  him  a  very  painful  impression. 
'I  do  not  see',  said  one,  'how  it  is  possible  for  you  to  live 
as  you  do  without  a  single  minute  in  your  day  deliber- 
ately given  to  tranquillity  and  meditation.  It  is  an 
invaluable  part  of  our  Hindoo  life  to  retire  for  at  least 
half  an  hour  daily  into  silence,  to  relax  our  muscles, 
govern  our  breathing,  and  meditate  on  eternal  things. 
Every  Hindoo  child  is  trained  to  this  from  a  very  early 
age.'  The  good  fruits  of  such  discipline  were  obvious 
in  the  physical  repose,  and  lack  of  tension,  and  the  won- 
derful smoothness  and  calmness  of  facial  expression,  and 
imperturbability  of  manner  in  these  Orientals.     I  felt 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  21 

that  my  countrymen  were  depriving  themselves  of  an 
essential  grace  of  character.  How  many  American 
children  ever  hear  it  said  by  parent  or  teacher  that  they 
should  moderate  their  piercing  voices,  that  they  should 
relax  their  unused  muscles,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  when 
sitting,  sit  quite  still  ?  Not  one  in  a  thousand,  not  one 
in  five  thousand.  Yet  from  this  reflex  influence  on  the 
inner  mental  states,  this  early  over-tension,  over- 
motion,  and  over-expression  are  working  us  grievous 
national  harm." 

Professor  Seashore  adds  to  this  highly  significant 

advice  a  suggestion  which  makes  our  point  of  view 

on  the  matter  still  more  nearly  complete.     He 

says : — 

"The  feature  which  concerns  us  (in  regard  to  the 
midday  nap)  is  that  the  greatest  benefit  from  normal 
sleep,  night  or  day,  comes  from  the  very  first  part  of  it. 
From  this  we  may  derive  a  principle  of  mental  economy. 
Cut  short  the  long,  light  sleep  of  the  late  morning  hours 
and  substitute  a  short  sleep  at  some  favorable  time 
during  the  work-day.  Fifteen  minutes  of  sleep  after 
the  heaviest  work  and  the  main  meal  of  the  day  will 
count  more  for  efficiency  than  five  times  fifteen  minutes 
of  sleep  in  the  morning.  The  curve  of  day-sleep  has 
the  same  form  as  the  curve  of  night-sleep ;  but  it  is 
usually  very  much  smaller.  From  ten  to  twenty  min- 
utes would  cover  the  period  of  deepest  sleep  in  the  day 
rest  of  a  normal  brain- worker." 

Attention  to  a  book  should  not  be  too  long  con- 
centrated, without  pause.     It  should  by  habit  be 


22  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

concentrated  vigorously,  but  only  for  relatively 
short  periods  at  a  time.  The  most  useful  periods 
of  work  when  the  mental  effort  is  expended  in 
associating  numbers  with  letters  (simple,  for  the 
purposes  of  the  laboratory)  have  been  studied 
by  Professor  Daniel  Starch,  of  the  University  of 
Wisconsin.  He  says  that  in  this  work  "  it  is  more 
economical,  within  limits,  to  shorten  the  periods 
of  work  and  to  distribute  them  correspondingly 
over  a  given  period  of  time.  The  most  favorable 
length  of  period  for  this  work  seemed  to  be  between 
ten  and  twenty  minutes"  It  is  well,  if  we  are  to 
rely  implicitly  on  opinions  as  rules  of  behavior, 
to  have  in  evidence  the  figures  of  actual  experi- 
mentation. 

There  should  be  more  power  of  concentration  for 
short  periods  than  most  schools  inculcate,  but  we 
cannot  keep  the  mind  strongly  concentrated  for 
long  periods  under  ordinary  degrees  of  educational 
interest.  Every  twenty  minutes  or  so  a  student 
should  walk  around  the  room  for  a  minute  or  two, 
for  this  activity  draws  some  of  the  blood  out  of 
the  brain  into  the  legs ;  moreover,  it  relieves  the 
injurious  long-fixation  of  the  eyes.  No  one  can 
sit  for  an  hour,  or  an  hour-and-a-half,  without 
changing  his  position,  except  at  a  considerable  loss 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  23 

of  nerve-economy.  Under  such  a  condition  it  is 
naturally  difficult  to  avoid  going  to  sleep,  partial 
or  complete. 

Grammar  schools  and  high  schools  almost  never, 
as  yet,  succeed  in  teaching  their  students  how  to 
think,  and  still  that  is  what  counts  most.  A 
momentary,  thoughtful  idea  often  is  worth  a  week 
of  fruitless  mechanical  grind.  Quality  not  quan- 
tity is  what  counts  in  study  as  well  as  in  other 
things.  When  we  study  we  should  make  a  serious 
business  of  it,  remembering  that  real  learning,  that 
is  understanding  and  constructive  power,  comes 
only  through  thought. 

Subsconscious  Learning.  —  This  is  a  mode  of 
learning  which  one  unfamiliar  with  psychology  is 
not  apt  to  think  of  as  "  study  "  at  all.  We  acquire 
this  kind  of  learning  (both  as  process  and  as  prod- 
uct) with  the  subconscious  minds,  physiologically 
chiefly,  namely  by  the  association  of  millions  of 
neurones.  Subconscious  observation  by  subcon- 
scious minds  would  be  a  common  way  to  charac- 
terize it. 

A  good  example  of  this  kind  of  study  or  learning 
is  a  child  about  two  years  old  learning  to  speak. 
The  child,  at  first,  does  not  consciously  strive  to 
pick  up  the  marvellous  art  of  speaking,  but  none 


24  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

the  less  he  acquires  it  quickly,  in  part  by  imitation. 
We  cannot  understand  anything  worth  learning 
without  this  factor  of  mind,  the  subsconscious 
mind,  the  great  integrator  of  intelligence.  The 
endless  details  of  knowledge  are  supplied  very 
largely  by  this  unconscious  mental  process,  this 
continual  subconscious  perception  and  observation 
by  all  the  senses  at  once. 

It  is  beyond  our  present  purpose  to  describe  this 
phase  of  the  human  mind,  that  deep  and  on-rushing 
part  of  "the  stream  of  consciousness",  which  is 
closest  to  the  nervous  integrators  of  protoplasmic 
function.  It  is  the  great  planner  of  our  behavior, 
however,  the  chief  solver  of  our  most  important 
problems  in  the  conduct  of  life ;  it  is  the  seat  of  our 
motives,  the  developer  of  our  habits,  the  associator 
of  our  ideas  into  real  and  useful  knowledge.  I 
recommend  it  for  study,  that  we  may  understand 
our  own  selves  and  the  minds  of  those  about  us. 
Von  Hartmann,  Dubois,  H.  Poincare,  Morton 
Prince,  Ribot,  Coriat,  Jelliffe,  and  Janet,  teach 
about  it,  all  that  we  need  to  know,  until  we  learn 
to  observe  its  phenomena  first  hand  for  ourselves. 

At  present  we  are  concerned  with  the  subcon- 
scious as  the  chief  active  recipient  of  information 
from  the  environment  and  as  the  chief  arranger, 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  25 

developer,  and  increaser  of  this  ever-varying  mul- 
titude of  educational  impressions.  As  has  been 
said  already,  without  the  subsconscious  there 
could  be  no  real  understanding  of  actual  conditions 
of  experience,  so  myriad  are  they  and  so  complex 
and  interinvolved. 

We  should  keep  all  our  senses  open,  therefore, 
to  "light"  of  every  kind  imaginable,  which  the 
subconscious  integrating  process  may  relate  to 
each  other  and  to  ourselves,  and  make  us  truly 
wise. 

There  are  three  chief  ways  of  studying  in  this 
process  of  school  and  college  learning.  In  the 
first  place,  by  more  or  less  conscious  seeing  and 
observing  of  books,  diagrams,  pictures,  and  other 
things  that  we  can  get  only  through  our  sense  of 
vision.  Second,  hearing  things  such  as  lectures, 
recitations,  and  talk.  And  third,  by  actually 
actively  doing  things  —  extensive  laboratory  work, 
clinical  work,  and,  to  a  less  extent,  essay-work, 
constructive  drawing,  research.  To  discuss  these 
in  detail  here  is  out  of  the  question,  so  that  we 
must  be  content  with  the  mere  observation,  al- 
though of  basal  and  vast  importance,  that  doing,  as 
opposed  to  receiving,  represents  the  modern 
method  of  learning  even   the  most  abstract  of 


26  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

subjects.  The  world  is  becoming  aware,  and 
effectively  aware,  that  bodily  efficiency  one  way 
or  another  is  the  basis  of  learning,  or,  in  the  words 
of  wise  old  Pestalozzi,  "No  learning  without  skill." 

Imagination  is  essential  in  every  scientific  man 
who  is  more  than  a  manikin.  But  visualizing 
imagination  is  of  immediate  necessity  to  every 
student.  We  must,  for  example,  be  able  to  look, 
in  our  minds,  directly  into  any  part  of  a  living 
organism  and  accurately  see  just  what  there  is 
and  precisely  what  is  going  on  there.  The  lack 
of  this  power,  I  am  convinced,  is  the  cause  of  the 
inefficiency  of  many  engineers,  geologists,  physi- 
cians. Anatomy,  for  example,  or  physiology, 
pathology,  surgery,  clinical  medicine  are  but 
impractical  knowledge  without  this  faculty,  easily 
developed  (by  most  students)  by  a  little  practice. 
I  recommend  it  as  an  important  accomplishment 
in  itself,  as  well  as  a  valuable  means  of  study. 

The  talcing  of  notes  is  of  sufficient  practical  im- 
portance to  warrant  a  brief  discussion.  If  text- 
books are  the  meat  of  the  student,  his  notes  are 
certainly  his  necessary  drink,  with  his  meals  and 
at  other  times.  It  has  been  said  that  one  "  should 
train  his  powers  of  observation  and  memory"  so 
as  to  be  able  to  go  into  a  lecture-room  and  remem- 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  27 

ber  the  gist  of  the  lecture  without  taking  notes. 
But  in  the  first  place,  we  cannot  develop  our 
memory.1  We  should  not  attempt  to  accustom 
ourselves  to  listening  to  lectures  without  taking 
at  least  a  few  notes,  unless  the  subject  be  un- 
technical.  Every  school  lecture  contains  many 
material  facts,  and  sometimes  hundreds  of  them, 
and  there  is  no  mind  that  can  remember  them 
all,  economically.  No  matter  how  vital  and 
permanent  they  may  seem  the  moment  when  we 
hear  them,  they  probably  are  soon  replaced  with 
others  equally  interesting,  and  very  soon  most  of 
them  are  gone,  many  of  them  for  good,  while  part 
of  those  which  remain  are  jumbled  and  mistaken. 

We  should  take  notes  of  everything  worth 
noting.  No  matter  where  we  are,  whenever  we 
hear  anything,  or  even  see  anything  worth  noting, 
we  should  "make  a  note  of  it."  These  notes  will 
be  of  value  all  our  lives,  the  most  vital  links  of  our 
mind  with  our  precious  school-life;  and  often  of 
great  practical  use,  besides. 

Notes  should  be  arranged  schematically  in  a 
psychologically  scientific  way,  with  center  head- 

1  For  a  brief  account  of  memory  see  the  author's  article  in  the 
Reference  Handbook  of  the  Medical  Sciences,  third  edition,  1916, 
volume  six. 


28  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

ings,  side  headings,  group  headings,  and  sub-group 
headings,  and  put  down  according  to  ideas  under 
such  headings.  When  all  run  together,  notes  are 
not  of  much  use.  Let  a  book's  elaborate  analytical 
table  of  contents  be  a  model  for  this.  We  should 
get  into  the  habit  of  using  abbreviations.  Short- 
hand is  desirable,  economical,  and  almost  neces- 
sary, but  if  we  cannot  manage  to  learn  shorthand, 
we  can  acquire  a  system  of  abbreviation  of  our 
own  device.  Do  not  expect  to  get  from  a  lecture 
anything  that  can  be  taken  down  and  run  in 
verbatim  on  an  examination,  for  a  good  lecture  is 
an  explanation,  not  dictation ;  not  a  description ; 
and  not  a  set  of  crib-notes. 

It  is  extremely  important  to  economy  that 
notes  be  kept  "posted  up"  every  day,  if  not  in 
our  notebooks,  then  in  our  brains.  We  should  go 
over  them  in  general  every  night  and  thus  connect 
them  with  what  has  gone  before,  and  so  keep  the 
mind  up  with  the  subject.  Examinations  will 
take  care  of  themselves  if  we  keep  our  didactic 
material  posted  up  day  after  day.  Examinations 
are  not  intended  to  trap  us,  but  are  intended  as 
means  to  find  out  how  much  we  know  or  do  not 
know ;  mostly,  in  fact,  how  much  we  do  not  know. 
Cramming  for   an   examination  is   like   carrying 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  29 

weights  in  our  pockets  when  getting  weighed  :  we 
are  cheating  ourselves.  The  economical  way  is  to 
keep  our  notes  posted  up  in  our  brains  every  day ; 
so  they  can  associate  and  we  can  learn  much 
faster,  giving  our  subconscious  faculties  a  better 
chance.  The  power  of  grasping  ideas  is  an  ex- 
tremely valuable  one.  We  should  pick  out  the 
gist  and  sense  of  a  running  discourse,  select  the 
ideas,  and  express  them  in  our  own  words. 

The  drawing  and  writing  of  diagrams  is  of  the 
greatest  importance,  and  all  put  before  us  should 
be  sketched  quickly.  The  drawing  of  original  dia- 
grams is  of  much  value,  but  the  quick  copying  of 
those  put  before  us  is  also  very  important.  Things 
should  not  "go  in  one  ear  and  out  the  other": 
there  should  be  something  within,  between  the 
ears,  to  fix  the  ideas,  namely,  the  brains.  One 
easy  way  to  do  that  is  by  writing  tersely  the  ideas, 
and  drawing  the  diagrams  whenever  possible. 
We  should  learn  to  visualize,  to  see  and  hear  and 
feel  things  in  our  minds,  and  this  selection  of  the 
essentials  will  help  this  important  habit. 

Frequent  reviewing  is  of  the  greatest  importance. 
It  tends  to  integrate  things,  keeps  subjects  unified, 
and  puts  the  whole  subject  before  us  at  once. 
Without  a  wholeness  nothing  is  of  much  account. 


30  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

We  should  have  as  large  a  variety  of  textbooks 
on  every  subject  we  study  as  we  can  possibly 
afford,  for,  in  that  way,  we  get  different  points  of 
view  of  the  same  topic,  and  fixation  is  more  certain. 
Every  ten  dollars  paid  for  good  books  while 
students,  will  be  worth  a  hundred  dollars  to  us 
later  on.  And  no  wise  person  sells  his  old  text- 
books, for  each  one  has  associations  with  his 
mind  which  make  it  often  far  more  valuable  and 
convenient  to  him  in  later  years  than  a  new  one 
could  be. 

Conversation  and  discussion  among  ourselves  are 
extremely  important  as  means  to  accurate  and 
broad  information.  Talk  things  over.  Collateral 
reading  always  lends  interest,  and  makes  us  better 
talkers,  which  in  itself  is  well  worth  while  in  any 
man  or  woman. 

The  need  for  economy  in  learning,  economy  in 
time  and  energy,  has  long  been  recognized  as  a 
pressing  need  of  the  utmost  economic  and  social 
import.  No  one,  perhaps,  has  better  stated  this 
aspect  of  the  question  than  has  President  Suzzallo, 
of  the  University  of  Washington,  in  the  Report  of 
the  National  Council  of  Education  on  "Economy 
of  Time  in  Education  "  (Bulletin  38,  U.  S.  Bureau 
of  Education).     He  writes :  — 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  31 

"More  efficient  and  economical  methods  must  be  used, 
if  the  general  schools  are  to  be  relieved  of  overpressure. 
The  waste  in  our  schools  for  general  training  has  been 
apparent.  It  will  become  more  irritating,  once  we 
attempt  to  shorten  the  period  of  education  by  two  full 
years.  It  will  be  doubly  vexatious  when  we  dare  to  add 
the  new  aspects  of  human  training  that  modern  society 
requires.  Perhaps  just  this  additional  pressure  is 
necessary  to  make  us  urgent  in  the  improvement  of  our 
educational  methods.  Then,  perhaps,  we  shall  recog- 
nize that  a  cultural  education  must  be  measured  by 
standards  of  practicality,  less  obvious  but  just  as  cer- 
tain, as  those  which  obtain  in  preparation  for  bread- 
winning.  Who  that  is  not  superficial  can  doubt  the 
practicality  of  a  good  character  as  a  business  asset? 
Who  will  not  recognize  the  worth  of  a  common  stock  of 
moral  ideals,  when  two  classes  in  the  community  wage 
unfair  war  upon  each  other  ?  It  must  be  our  business 
to  try  to  analyze  more  accurately  than  we  have  ever 
done  the  spiritual  practicality  of  our  general  schools. 
Only  then  can  we  weed  out  our  false  practices  and  our 
ineffective  instruction.  It  will  be  difficult  to  do,  but  it 
can  be  done,  if  we  will  only  study  men  in  the  setting  of  a 
real  social  world.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  philos- 
ophy of  education,  there  are  three  clear  ways  by  which 
we  can  decrease  the  overpressure  in  our  schools : 

"  (1)  We  must  rid  ourselves  once  and  for  all  of  that 
fallacy  which  insinuates  that  education  is  to  be  com- 
pleted for  any  person  within  a  given  set  of  schools.  A 
broad  view  of  life  tells  us  it  is  experience  which  educates. 
We  are  made  by  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  life. 
Other  institutions  than  the  school  do  mold  the  pupil's 
character ;  life  beyond  the  school  will  continue  to  amend 


32  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

it.  The  school  simply  occupies  a  strategic  position  in 
human  life  because  it  works  upon  a  plastic  infancy  with 
tools  that  are  of  very  superior  power,  if  rightly  applied. 
But  the  fact  need  not  suggest  that  the  school  must  com- 
plete any  man's  education.  More  than  anything  else 
teachers  require  the  courage  to  leave  things  undone. 
To  make  that  possible,  the  teacher  must  not  be  content 
to  teach  students  all  the  facts  they  need  to  know  finally. 
The  school  can  not  do  it  anyway.  It  should  take  the 
focus  of  its  attention  off  facts  and  forms  perfectly 
learned  and  habits  and  attitudes  completely  fixed,  and 
divide  its  attention  between  (a)  requiring  a  thorough 
acquisition  of  some  fundamental  things  and  (6)  develop- 
ing interests  in  the  unmastered  domains,  along  with  the 
power  to  attack  these  fields  when  the  grown  man  faces 
them  in  his  adult  life.  The  first  economy  in  our  educa- 
tion will  come  through  a  completely  changed  point  of 
view  as  to  the  school's  function.  It  will  take  the  em- 
phasis off  subject  matter  as  an  end,  making  it  a  means, 
and  lay  the  stress  upon  the  development  of  the  child's 
power  to  proceed  alone.  What  does  it  matter  that  a 
child  does  not  know  everything,  if  the  school  will  make 
him  wish  to  do  so  and  give  him  the  power  of  indepen- 
dent thought  and  study?  Six  years  of  school  life  are 
merely  six  years  of  opportunity  to  grow  in  knowledge 
and  power.  Let  the  school  do  what  it  can  in  the 
allotted  time,  always  remembering  that  the  child  must 
be  equipped  to  go  on  without  the  teacher. 

"An  incalculable  waste  occurs  in  our  schools  because 
this  principle  is  violated.  Fearful  that  the  course  will 
not  be  covered,  that  some  fact  will  be  left  out,  we  hurry, 
crowd,  and  coerce  children  till  they  have  no  further 
interest  in  books  when  school  is  done.      We    have 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  33 

taught  them  many  facts  superficially,  but  we  have  shorn 
them  of  the  power  to  educate  themselves.  Children 
who  have  been  in  the  presence  of  good  literature  for 
years  never  seek  it  again,  because  the  teacher  has 
maltreated  both  the  subject  and  the  children  with  his 
pedantic  insistence  on  details.  They  acquire  no  more 
facts  when  school  is  done,  because  they  have  not  been 
taught  to  work  in  freedom,  without  the  admonitions  and 
compulsions  of  the  teacher.  We  must  aim  to  do  more 
for  human  power,  by  striving  to  do  less  in  the  way  of 
giving  students  information. 

"  (2)  We  must  reconstruct  the  course  of  study  so  as 
to  eliminate  that  which  does  not  need  to  be  known, 
or  that  which  is  of  lesser  importance  and  can  be  gained 
by  the  student  after  a  while.  No  mere  professional 
theory  of  discipline  should  be  allowed  to  take  prece- 
dence over  real  social  need.  The  curricula  of  our  schools 
must  be  made  in  the  light  of  our  social  surveys  of  what 
men  need  in  knowledge,  habits,  powers,  skills,  and 
values.  And  these  surveys  need  to  be  made  accurately. 
If  the  vocabulary  taught  in  spelling  contains  3000 
words,  these  should  be  the  3000  words  most  frequently 
used  in  the  social  world,  not  some  mere  compilation 
made  on  the  guess  of  textbook  makers.  If  his  mathe- 
matical computations  are  taught  him,  they  should 
correspond  in  fact  and  method  with  current  adult 
practice.  The  selection  of  a  course  of  study  is  always 
primarily  a  sociological  matter;  and  every  activity, 
traditional  or  innovative,  should  be  eliminated  when  no 
relatively  important  social  sanction  can  be  found  for  it. 
All  truth  is  useful,  but  in  a  few  school  years  all  truth 
cannot  be  mastered ;  what  is  less  important  must  be 
dropped  if  a  more  important  element  calls  for  its  time. 


34  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

"  (3)  We  must  increase  the  efficiency  of  our  methods 
of  instruction.  We  are  still  divided  into  cults,  as  to 
teaching  processes.  If  we  like  the  old,  we  stick  to  a 
traditional  procedure ;  if  we  are  temperamentally  fond 
of  the  new,  we  welcome  innovation.  We  do  not  know 
the  relative  efficiency  of  an  old  as  opposed  to  a  new 
method ;  of  a  method  used  in  one  locality  as  compared 
with  another  employed  in  other  school  systems.  We 
must  as  a  profession  eliminate  the  less  efficient  modes  of 
instruction  (a)  by  subjecting  all  our  classroom  proce- 
dure to  the  test  of  a  comparative  experimental  pedagogy 
and  (6)  by  establishing  some  central  bureau  of  peda- 
gogical knowledge  which  will  keep  the  professional 
world  informed  as  to  methods  and  their  values. 

"The  waste  in  education  will  not  be  difficult  once  we 
have  (1)  attained  a  more  natural  view  of  the  school's 
functions,  (2)  provided  social  surveys  as  a  basis  for 
constructing  courses  of  study,  and  (3)  established  an 
experimental  pedagogy  for  determining  relative  effi- 
ciency." 

Education  as  well  as  being  a  theoretically  pre- 
cious and  a  thoroughly  practical  thing,  is  in  fact 
also  a  good  financial  investment.  Some  one  has 
suggested  that  the  uneducated  man  earns  about 
$1.50  per  day,  or  $20,000  in  forty  years;  a  high- 
school  graduate  about  $1000  a  year,  or  $40,000 
in  forty  years ;  a  college-man  earns  on  an  average 
say  about  $3000  per  year,  or  $120,000  in  forty 
years,  when  an  average  amount  of  work  is  done. 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  35 

The  difference  between  the  first  and  second  is 
$20,000,  but  the  difference  between  the  second  and 
the  third,  between  the  earnings  of  the  high  school 
and  the  college  graduates,  is  $80,000.  That  is  a 
whole  fortune  in  itself.  These  statements  point 
out  practically  and  explicitly  the  material  value 
of  an  education  to  those  numerous  people  who  for 
the  most  part  measure  all  things  in  terms  of  dollars 
and  cents,  —  certainly  the  most  general  measure- 
ment-unit which  we  possess. 

Huxley's  definition  of  a  liberal  education  is  as 
follows :  — 

"That  man,  I  think,  has  had  a  liberal  education  who 
has  been  so  trained  in  youth  that  his  body  is  the  ready 
servant  of  his  will,  and  does  with  ease  and  pleasure  all 
the  work  that,  as  a  mechanism,  it  is  capable  of ;  whose 
intellect  is  a  clear,  cold  logical  engine,  with  all  its  parts  of 
equal  strength,  and  in  smooth  working  order,  ready, 
like  a  steam  engine,  to  be  turned  to  any  kind  of  work  and 
spin  the  gossamers  as  well  as  forge  the  anchors  of  the 
mind;  whose  mind  is  stored  with  a  knowledge  of  the 
great  and  fundamental  truths  of  Nature  and  of  the  laws 
of  her  operations ;  one  who,  no  stunted  ascetic,  is  full 
of  life  and  fire,  but  whose  passions  are  trained  to  come 
to  a  halt  by  a  vigorous  will,  the  servant  of  a  tender 
conscience ;  who  has  learned  to  love  all  beauty,  whether 
of  Nature  or  of  art,  to  hate  all  vileness,  and  to  love 
others  as  himself.  Such  a  one  and  no  other  has  had  a 
liberal  education." 


36  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

That  is  in  my  opinion  at  once  the  most  scientific 
and  the  generally  best  definition  of  an  education 
that  was  ever  written,  and  therefore  is  worth 
repeating  continually.  I  wish,  however,  to  call 
attention  to  one  statement  here  and  to  show  how 
to  some  extent  it  is  mistaken.  Along  in  the  first 
part  this  definition  says  "  whose  intellect  is  a  clear, 
cold  logical  engine,  with  all  its  parts  in  smooth 
working  order",  etc.  One  of  the  leading  physio- 
logical psychologists  of  the  world  in  the  very  broad 
and  untechnical  sense,  Huxley  here  undoubtedly 
expressed  a  hope  rather  than  a  statement  of  fact. 
The  epidemic  of  sometimes  unscientific  mental  and 
physical  "testing"  from  which  America,  here  and 
there,  is  now  suffering,  has  served,  among  other 
ends,  to  emphasize  anew  that  the  mind  cannot, 
and  indeed  should  not,  be  what  Huxley  has  sug- 
gested above.  Very  recently  Morton  Prince,  one 
of  the  most  eminent  authorities  on  the  subcon- 
scious aspects  of  mind,  wrote  in  a  remarkable 
essay  on  "The  Psychology  of  the  Kaiser" :  — 

"Our  conscious  thoughts  are  much  more  determined 
by  subconscious  processes,  of  which  we  are  unaware, 
than  we  realize.  One  great  popular  delusion  is  that  our 
minds  are  more  exact  logical  instruments  than  they 
really  are,  and  we  stand  in  awe  of  the  minds  of  great 
men,  thinking  that  because  they  are  superior  in  certain 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  37 

directions  therefore  they  are  superior  in  all  other  direc- 
tions of  their  activities,  where  they  claim  superiority. 
Whereas,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  man  may  be  eminently 
superior  in  certain  fields  of  mental  activity  and  psycho- 
logically a  perfect  fool-thinker  and  fool-performer  in 
other  fields.  Helmholtz  said  of  the  eye  that  it  was  such 
an  imperfect  optical  instrument  that  if  an  instrument- 
maker  should  send  him  an  optical  instrument  so  badly 
made,  he  would  refuse  to  accept  it  and  return  it  forth- 
with. He  might  have  said  the  same  thing  of  the  human 
mind.  It  is  a  very  imperfect  instrument  cf  thought. 
All  we  can  say  is  that  it  is  the  best  we  can  get.  The 
deeper  insight  we  get  into  the  mechanism  of  the  human 
mind  the  poorer  thing  it  appears  as  an  instrument  of 
precision." 

It  is  only  man's  instinctive  egotism,  on  the  one 
hand,  uncorrected  by  his  relative  ignorance,  on 
the  other,  that  has  kept  this,  the  obviously  correct 
scientific  attitude,  from  long  since  becoming  com- 
mon wisdom.  One  who  knows  he  has  to  work 
with  poor  tools  will  see  all  the  more  occasion  and 
necessity  for  all  the  information  and  hints  he  can 
obtain,  and  will  see  the  need  also  for  the  exercise 
both  of  the  greatest  diligence  and  the  greatest 
care  in  using  the  tools  he  has.  It  is  well  always  to 
realize  that  the  body  and  the  mind  (in  its  scien- 
tific sense)  educationally  speaking  are  tools,  tools 
none  too  efficient,  which  have  to  be  trained  labori- 


38  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

ously  into  high  ability.  The  mind,  then,  is  in 
general  a  capable  instrument  but  not  particularly 
so  as  an  instrument  of  precision. 

It  is  well  worth  while  for  every  student  to  be 
economical  in  the  use  of  time,  to  learn  in  the  most 
economical  manner  that  he  can  employ.  That  is 
my  chief  sanction  for  offering  as  really  important 
certain  hints  on  the  more  economical  methods  of 
study  and  of  learning  —  and  of  becoming  wise ! 

We  do  not  need  here  to  discuss  at  all  the  nature 
of  education.  But  I  do  suggest  that  a  familiar 
and  short  definition  of  the  essence  of  human  educa- 
tion is  the  adequate  reaction  of  personality  to  its 
environment.  The  "reaction"  in  this  definition  is 
for  our  immediate  practical  purpose  the  important 
thing. 

We  must  remember,  however,  that  the  learning- 
process  is  not  a  material  process.  A  teacher  can- 
not give  us  a  knowledge  of  literature,  of  geometry, 
of  physics,  or  of  similar  subjects,  as  he  might 
readily  convey  the  detailed  directions  for  doing 
fine  presswork,  or  for  building  a  complete  doll's 
house,  or  for  the  construction  of  a  fancy  chocolate 
cake.  The  two  problems  are  distinctly  different. 
The  best  that  one  can  do  in  giving  advice  on  such 
a  matter  as  learning  —  so  subtle  and  at  times  seem- 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  39 

ingly  so  wholly  abstract  —  is  to  state,  as  simply 
as  possible,  the  chief  effective  conditions  involved 
and  then  to  trust  implicitly  in  the  natural  reaction 
of  the  learner's  mind  on  the  information  secured. 
Indispensable,  certainly,  for  learning  worthy  of 
its  high  reputation,  is  the  co?isistent,  deeply  seated 
will-to-lear n.  One  must  firmly  impress  his  motiva- 
tion-force and  set  it  in  permanent  action,  fully 
determined  to  support  it  in  every  respect.  From 
the  first  in  normal  children  the  desire  to  learn  is 
strong  and  may  be  relied  upon.  Professor  Hall- 
Quest  of  the  University  of  Virginia  expressed 
much  in  an  address  in  Richmond  in  November, 
1915  ("School  and  Society",  March  11,  1916), 
especially  in  the  following  two  paragraphs  :  — 

"Any  one  who  has  observed  children  knows  that  they 
are  bundles  of  question  marks.  They  are  also  mimics 
by  nature.  Curiosity  and  imitation  in  various  com- 
binations and  levels  of  development  are  the  sine  qua  non 
of  learning.  The  harmonious  and  concentrated  exercise 
of  the  attention  upon  a  difficult  task  may  be  called  the 
will  to  learn.  It  is  the  cooperation  of  the  entire  per- 
sonality of  one's  being  upon  a  task.  The  child  may  be 
restless  for  many  reasons,  but  it  does  possess  the  will  to 
learn  in  proportion  to  its  interest  in  the  undertaking. 
The  interests  of  the  child,  as  we  know,  are  closely 
related  to  the  instincts.  The  problem  of  education  is 
partly  the  selection  of  those  methods  of  teaching  that 


40  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

stimulate  instinctive  interests  to  the  discipline  of  habit 
formation.  If  a  child,  in  all  respects  apparently  normal, 
seems  to  lack  interest  in  kindergarten  and  school  work 
this  condition  is  due  to  one  of  two  causes ;  either  the 
natural  interest  of  the  child  has  not  been  appealed  to 
with  sufficient  "punch"  or  the  child  is  physically  ill. 
Normal  children  want  to  learn.  The  plasticity,  the 
resilience  of  the  nervous  system  is  wholly  in  favor  of 
new  impressions.  The  capacity  of  the  young  child  for 
work  is  marvellous.  Between  its  physical  and  mental 
activities  there  is  a  close  correlation  providing  adequate 
measures  are  employed  to  arouse  and  keep  awake  the 
mind.  Otherwise  one  meets  the  all  too  common 
results  obtained  by  the  Simon-Binet  tests,  children 
physically  normal  but  mentally  several  years  behind 
the  chronological  age. 

"The  importance  of  all  this  for  the  kindergarten 
teacher  is  obvious.  There  is  need  of  beginning  very 
early  to  teach  the  child  the  rudiments  of  reading,  writ- 
ing and  the  simplest  processes  of  number  work.  It  is 
true,  as  Fiske  writes,  that  the  period  of  human  infancy 
is  much  longer  than  that  of  other  forms  of  animal  life 
because  the  purpose  is  so  much  higher  and  the  results 
so  much  more  significant  for  the  race.  But  this  should 
not  mean  that  the  period  should  be  unnecessarily 
prolonged  by  delaying  the  introduction  of  subjects 
within  the  range  of  the  child's  capacity.  The  argu- 
ment usually  presented  is  that  it  is  unfair  to  the  child 
to  force  its  mind  too  early.  The  fact  is,  however,  that 
it  is  more  unfair  to  force  the  child's  mind  to  remain 
inactive  too  long.  In  the  reorganization  of  the  school 
programs  up  and  down  it  is  within  the  range  of  conserv- 
ative prediction  to  state  that  within  the  next  decade 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  41 

there  will  be  a  successful  effort  made  beyond  that 
now  current,  to  introduce  the  child  much  earlier  to 
subjects  that  are  now  delayed  because  the  child  is 
supposed  to  be  mentally  unable  to  grasp  them  as  yet. 
It  is  fundamentally  a  matter  of  method,  not  mental 
responsiveness.  Boris  Sidis'  son  and  others  like  him 
have  been  called  precocious.  The  fact  is  that  they  are 
fascinatingly  normal.  By  a  careful  study  of  the  child's 
abilities  in  the  kindergarten  it  will  be  possible  to  deter- 
mine to  what  extent  its  range  of  education  should  be 
enlarged.  It  will  be  found  that  when  properly  attacked 
the  problems  of  reading,  writing,  number  work,  and 
those  astonishing  feats  of  the  imagination  leading  up  to 
choice  bits  of  thinking  form  a  firm  foundation  for  the 
gradual  supplying  of  information  and  for  the  gradual 
unfolding  of  powers  that  even  in  these  days  of  enlighten- 
ment many  parents  and  teachers  believe  far  beyond  the 
capacity  of  a  child  of  four  or  five." 

This  dynamic  aspect  of  mind,  the  resistless 
impulse  to  do  and  thereby  to  "learn",  especially 
in  youth,  is  the  very  key-note  of  modern  pedagogy 
—  as  it  is,  in  sooth,  of  modern  psychology.  The 
practical  problem  for  every  student  young  or  old  is 
the  manner  of  best  taking  advantage  of  and  utiliz- 
ing this  tremendous  inherent  dynamic  tendency. 

The  precise  process  cannot,  indeed,  be  described 
mechanically,  for  this  will-to-learn  must  do  its 
own  work,  secure  its  own  personal  victories  over 
ignorance  and  inadequacy.     In  other  words,  the 


42  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

student,  whatever  in  all  the  intricate  world  of 
knowledge  be  his  subject,  must  have  a  real  and 
lasting  desire  to  learn.  Often  this  alone  is  enough 
—  the  native  ingenuity  of  the  learner's  intelligence 
supplies  the  rest  automatically,  as  biography  shows 
us  it  has  so  often  done.  But  many  people  who  can 
swim  really  well  use  bridges  even  over  narrow 
streams. 

Now  some  of  my  readers  may  expect  too  much 
from  my  discussions.  Some  may  mistake  advice 
for  energy,  a  dietary  for  a  full  diet,  or,  even,  (in  the 
words  of  someone  else)  the  guide-board  for  a  rapid 
and  easy  intelligent  limousine.  Just  as  eternal 
vigilance  is  almost  always  the  price  of  safety,  so 
continual  effort  is  the  least  cost  of  an  education,  of 
effective  learning.  That  is  why  an  education  is 
worth  something,  and  in  many  directions  too.  I 
wonder  if  that  relationship  between  this  difficulty 
and  the  value  ever  occurred  to  many  who  read 
these  words.  Ambition  and  energy,  initiative, 
push,  work  and  effort  (but  never  drudgery)  are 
required  for  learning,  whether  hard  or  easy,  for 
although  the  study-process  is  a  most  pleasant 
kind  of  work,  almost  never  drudgery,  it  requires 
effort,  because  it  is  an  active  reaction.  We  have 
to  do  it  ourselves. 


ECONOMY  IN  STUDY  43 

Learning,  again,  as  we  often  hear,  but  none  too 
often  yet,  is  not  the  mere  filling  of  a  barrel  with 
apples,  but  the  slow  growing  up  of  both  the  barrel 
and  the  apples  from  the  seedling  trees.  But  we 
may  note  that  out  of  the  five  or  six  million  people 
in  the  United  States  who  cannot  read  or  write, 
some  have  never  seen  the  "guide-board  ",  and  do 
not  know  even  where  or  how  they  wish  to  go  ! 
These  certainly  would  not  wish  to  be  whisked 
along  blindly  in  a  limousine ;  nor  should  we,  for 
in  this  case  it's  the  journey  that  counts,  not  the 
mere  arrival.  Education  is  a  progress,  not  a  town 
with  numerous  gravestones  on  every  hand.  With 
an  ever  and  ever  widening  vista,  further  and 
further  on  into  the  mental  depths  of  Reason  and 
Reality,  the  Cosmos  of  spirit  and  of  matter  opens 
to  the  serious  student  and  to  the  persistent  thinker. 
And  as  he  dies,  be  it  a  good  old  age  or  earlier, 
whatsoever  has  befallen  him  or  his  in  an  adven- 
turous Life,  he  realizes  that  he  has  had  the  Very 
Best  this  Splendid  World  Affords. 


CHAPTER  II 
OBSERVATION  AND  THE  TAKING  OF  NOTES 

Our  first  more  explicit  discussion  is  on  observa- 
tion, (in  the  very  broad  and  useful  psychologic 
usage  of  the  term)  and  then  on  the  taking  of  notes. 
Most  of  our  learning  comes  from  this  Cosmos,  this 
" environment",  —  our  surroundings,  spiritual  and 
material,  finite  and  infinite.  The  relation  between 
the  Cosmos  and  our  minds  is  dependent  largely 
upon  the  process  of  observation,  including  the 
observing  of  our  own  minds.  The  term  observa- 
tion suggests  an  important  element  of  learning ;  in 
fact,  learning  is  unthinkable  without  it,  especially 
perhaps  in  the  natural  sciences,  of  which  there 
are  now  so  many.  Observation  is  obviously  a 
form  of  note-taking ;  it  is  taking  notes  and  writing 
them  "on  the  tablets  of  the  memory",  on  brain 
instead  of  on  paper. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  observation.  There  is  a 
primary  knowledge  of  nature  outdoors,  and  under 
somewhat  artificial  conditions  in  the  laboratory; 

44 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF   NOTES     45 

and  then  a  secondary  or  mediate  process,  obser- 
vation of  books  and  of  other,  e.g.,  pictorial,  de- 
scriptions of  the  original  observations  by  others. 
Both  of  these  forms  of  observation  furnish  material 
for  note-taking. 

Direct  observation  requires  a  habit  of  the  con- 
tinually sensitive  and  accurate  use  of  the  sense- 
organs  ;  organs  of  movement-sensation,  of  hear- 
ing, of  touch,  smell,  heat  and  cold,  sometimes 
singly  but  sometimes,  too,  all  at  once. 

Observation  always  should  be  explicit;  in  fact, 
unless  it  be  explicit,  it  is  not  observation  at  all, 
but  a  form  of  "wool-gathering."  In  many  cases 
it  must  be  minutely  explicit  in  order  to  be  of  any 
value.  Further  details  often  lend  things  a  wholly 
new  aspect,  details  which  have  not  before  been 
noticed,  and  thus  lead  sometimes  to  important 
discoveries.  All  of  this  process  of  observation 
involves  a  fine  adjustment  (by  means  of  muscles 
and  nerves  and  sometimes  obvious  glands)  of  the 
sense-organs.  "Trifles  make  perfection  but  per- 
fection is  no  trifle,"  and  thus  it  is  in  this  phase, 
the  detailed  phase,  of  observation. 

On  the  other  hand,  observation  must  be  also  a 
process  of  observing  things  in  their  entirety  and  in 
their  general  relation  to  environment.     We  must 


46  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

not  always  miss  the  ocean's  grandeur  for  study, 
however  scientific,  of  the  waves  upon  the  shore, 
any  more  than  we  ought  to  miss  the  beauty  of  a 
forest  because  of  the  crowded  trees.  There  is 
chance  for  varied  observation  in  street-cars  and 
in  trains  !  Travel  supplies  the  material  for  much 
observation  and  also  the  stimulus  to  use  this 
power.  Observation  exercises  the  mind,  while  the 
travel  tones  us  up  and  rests  our  organism.  In 
general  terms,  direct  observation  is  incompatible 
with  book-study  because  it  almost  inevitably 
distracts  the  interest  therefrom.  This  is  one  of  the 
difficulties  of  travel,  as  used  to  be  the  mode,  in 
order  to  study;  we  forget  to  study,  and  this  in- 
consistency is  natural. 

Another  matter :  this  habit  of  minute  adjust- 
ment of  the  senses  involves  a  disregarding  of  whatever 
is  already  familiar,  so  that,  in  a  way,  for  effective 
observation  we  have  really  to  be  familiar  with 
whatever  we  suppose  we  are  familiar  with ;  which 
is  to  say  we  really  have  to  mind  our  P's  and  Q's,  for 
observation,  as  it  develops,  requires  intelligence. 

Interest  is  absolutely  necessary.  Observation 
depends  on  interest,  and  with  interest  the  observa- 
tion-process becomes  "reflex"  or  automatic  and 
therefore   easy.     A   boy's   interest   in   girls,    for 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF   NOTES     47 

example,  and  a  girl's  interest  in  the  fashions  are 
practical  interests  which  uniformly,  in  normal  boys 
and  girls  at  least,  lead  to  a  process  of  observation, 
which  thus  goes  on  continually. 

There  is  a  great  amount  of  labor  required  in  obser- 
vation. It  is  not  a  passive  process,  but  on  the  other 
hand  demands  much  effort,  much  bodily  activity, 
the  details  of  which  are  too  technical  for  discussion 
in  this  sketch  of  the  nature  of  observation.  This 
process  of  sensory  muscle-adaptation  is  called 
perception.  A  perception  is  an  active  reaction  to 
some  object  around,  and  requires  many  fine  mus- 
cular adjustments ;  indeed  these  are  its  physiologic 
essence. 

Sense-training  of  the  simplest  sort  is  one  of  the 
most  important  of  all  the  elements  of  education, 
but  for  the  most  part  only  the  feeble-minded 
children  have  the  advantages  of  it !  But  no  one, 
scarcely,  is  too  old  or  too  normal  to  develop  at 
least  a  greater  efficiency  in  this  the  very  basis  of 
intelligence.  The  elementary  educational  system 
is  at  fault  to  omit  sense-training  whatever  else  it 
might  have  to  omit  to  give  it  room !  Natural, 
spontaneous  sense-training  comes  from  natural 
interests,  but  it  is  only  a  fraction  of  what  it  might 
become  by  being  trained.     Few  people  yet  realize 


48  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

how  utterly  different  things  and  events  appear 
to  different  observers  even  under  precisely  the 
same  objective  conditions.  Professor  J.  McKeen 
Cattell,  of  Columbia  University,  years  ago  made 
some  striking  demonstrations  of  this  difference. 
A  two-colored  quadrangular  card  was  exposed 
for  a  short  time  to  a  dozen  or  two  intelligent  per- 
sons singly,  and  when  the  drawings  of  what  each 
"subject"  saw  were  compared  it  was  found  that 
only  two  perceived  the  square  red-and-green  area 
alike,  and  these  not  exactly  so,  despite  the  mere 
chance  of  perceiving  similarly.  To  quote  the 
researcher's  own  words  as  given  in  the  Proceedings 
of  the  American  Psychological  Association,  1899 :  — 

"  When  a  moving  surface  is  exhibited  as  it  passes  under 
a  window  in  a  screen  it  appears  larger  than  the  window. 
If  green  is  exhibited  first  for  ^  second,  followed  by 
red  for  -£$  second,  the  observer  does  not  see  green  fol- 
lowed by  red,  but  the  two  colors  are  seen  side  by  side, 
variously  arranged  and  intermingled,  filling  a  larger 
area  than  the  window  through  which  they  are  seen.  A 
series  of  physical  and  physiological  processes  in  time 
makes  for  perception  a  spatial  continuum.  In  this  case, 
however,  the  same  physical  stimulus  gives  rise  to  en- 
tirely different  perceptions  with  different  observers,  in- 
dicating that  the  processes  of  visual  perception  are 
largely  built  up  by  the  individual. 

"When  in  the  ordinary  vision  of  daily  life  the  line  of 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF  NOTES     49 

sight  moves  over  objects,  say  the  books  on  a  shelf,  each 
retinal  element  is  successively  stimulated,  but  the  objects 
are  seen  simultaneously,  side  by  side.  In  this  case  the 
intermittent  stimulations  may  occur  as  rapidly  as 
1000  per  second  without  any  fusion  or  blurring.  This 
fact  indicates  that  fusion  and,  indeed,  all  the  phe- 
nomena of  color- vision,  are  cerebral  rather  than  retinal. 
"These  experiments,  demonstrating  as  they  do  that  a 
time  series  is  perceived  as  a  space  continuum  when  this 
is  advantageous  for  our  reactions,  show  anew  that  our 
perceptions  are  not  'copies'  of  a  physical  world  or 
correlates  of  simple  physiological  processes,  but  are 
dependent  on  experience  and  utility." 

Thus  sense-perception,  observation,  in  the 
young  child  is  far  more  even  than  it  appears  to  be, 
for  it  builds  the  very  foundations  of  the  mind. 
How  long  is  our  system  of  general  education  for 
normal  children  to  accept,  but  idly,  the  obvious 
reproach  that  the  mental  defectives  at  the  present 
time  in  some  schools  (for  example  that  founded 
and  developed  by  Seguin  and  now  ably  directed 
by  Dr.  Walter  Elmore  Fernald  in  Waverley, 
Massachusetts),  that  the  feeble  minded  are  given 
more  careful  sense-training  than  is  to  be  had  by 
other  more  successful  children  in  the  "grades"? 

Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot,  President  Emeritus  of 
Harvard  University,  at  the  Pan-American  Scien- 
tific Congress  in  Y^ashington,  1916,  in  the  course  of 


50  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

a  timely  paper  entitled  "The  Changes  Needed  in 
American  Secondary  Education"  spoke  the  long- 
necessary  words  for  sense-training  and  for  motor- 
training  —  obviously  only  complementary  phases 
of  the  one  and  the  same  process  carried  on  by 
nerve-circuits,  muscles,  and  glands  —  in  short  for 
perceiving  and  doing  as  the  basis  of  all  education 
worth  the  getting  and  having.  For  ten  years  the 
present  writer  has  been  attempting  to  work  out  the 
psychobiology  of  this  very  matter,  the  sanction  of 
the  body  and  its  life,  each  of  us  in  his  own  personal 
apotheosis  ere  he  dies.  But  the  sceptics  (in  the 
university  trustee-boards  no  more  than  in  the 
city  slums)  will  not  learn  the  story  —  yet !  But 
Dr.  Eliot  says : 

"It  follows  from  these  considerations  that  the  train- 
ing of  the  senses  should  always  have  been  a  prime  object 
in  human  education,  at  every  stage  from  primary  to 
professional.  That  prime  object  it  has  never  been,  and 
is  not  to-day.  The  kind  of  education  the  modern 
world  has  inherited  from  ancient  times  was  based  chiefly 
on  literature.  Its  principal  materials,  beside  some 
elementary  mathematics,  were  sacred  and  profane 
writings,  both  prose  and  poetry,  including  descriptive 
narration,  history,  philosophy,  and  religion  ;  but  accom- 
panying this  tradition  of  language  and  literature  was 
another  highly  useful  transmission  from  ancient  times 
—  the  study  of  the  fine  arts,  with  the"  many  kinds  of 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OP  NOTES     51 

skill  that  are  indispensable  to  artistic  creation.  Wher- 
ever in  Europe  the  cultivation  of  the  fine  arts  has  sur- 
vived in  vigor,  there  the  varied  skill  of  the  artist  in 
music,  painting,  sculpture,  and  architecture  has  been 
a  saving  element  in  national  education,  although  it 
affected  strongly  only  a  limited  number  of  persons. 
The  English  nation  was  less  influenced  by  artistic 
culture  than  the  nations  of  the  Continent.  American 
secondary  and  higher  education  copied  English  models, 
and  were  also  injuriously  affected  by  the  Puritan, 
Genevan,  Scotch-Presbyterian,  and  Quaker  disdain 
for  the  fine  arts.  As  a  result  the  programs  of  secon- 
dary schools  in  the  United  States  allotted  only  an  in- 
significant portion  of  school  time  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  senses  through  music  and  drawing;  and,  until 
lately,  boys  and  girls  in  secondary  schools  did  not  have 
their  attention  directed  to  the  fine  arts  by  any  outside 
or  voluntary  organizations.  As  a  rule,  the  young  men 
admitted  to  American  colleges  can  neither  draw  nor 
sing ;  and  they  possess  no  other  skill  of  eye,  ear,  or 
hand. 

******** 

"In  recent  years,  on  account  of  the  complexities, 
urgencies,  and  numerous  accidents  of  urban  life,  there 
has  been  a  striking  revelation  of  the  untrustworthiness 
of  human  testimony,  not  because  witnesses  intended 
to  deceive,  but  because  they  were  unable  to  see,  hear, 
or  describe  accurately  what  really  happened  in  their 
presence.  This  inability  to  see,  hear,  and  describe 
correctly  is  not  at  all  confined  to  uneducated  people. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  often  found  in  men  and  women 
whose  education  has  been  prolonged  and  thorough,  but 
never    contained    any    significant    element    of    sense 


52  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

training.  Many  highly  educated  American  ministers, 
lawyers,  and  teachers  have  never  received  any  scientific 
training,  have  never  used  any  instrument  of  precision, 
possess  no  manual  skill  whatever,  and  can  not  draw, 
sing,  or  play  on  a  musical  instrument.  Their  entire 
education  has  dwelt  in  the  region  of  language,  literature, 
philosophy,  and  history,  with  a  brief  excursion  into  the 
field  of  mathematics.  Many  an  elderly  professional 
man,  looking  back  on  his  education  and  examining  his 
own  habits  of  thought  and  of  expression,  perceives  that 
his  senses  were  never  trained  to  act  with  precision; 
that  his  habits  of  thought  permit  vagueness,  obscurity, 
and  inaccuracy,  and  that  his  spoken  or  written  state- 
ment lacks  that  measured,  cautious,  candid,  simple 
quality  which  the  scientific  spirit  fosters  and  inculcates."  * 

Thus  we  have  to  learn  to  observe  much  as  we 
have  to  learn  to  become  skilful.  Skill  is  the  same 
process  as  accurate  sense-perception;  and  volun- 
tary attention  is  another  psychophysical  operation 
which  involves  perfect  and  general  bodily  control, 
and  must  be  taken  in  a  general  and  broad  sense  of 
bodily  fitness.  It  includes  at  least  five  funda- 
mental states  and  processes  :  (1)  it  involves  vigor ; 
(2)  it  involves  a  great  deal  of  initiative;  (3)  it 
involves  mental  quickness  (wit)  and  (4)  sensitivity 
to  every  educating  influence ;  and,  (5)  self-con- 
fidence is  indispensable.     Intelligence  itself  (which 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education  Bulletin,  1916,  No.  10,  pp.  5  and  8. 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF  NOTES     53 

is  only  a  larger  name  for  skill)  is  but  a  fine  adapta- 
tion to  and  appreciation  of  one's  effective  environ- 
ment, spiritual  and  material.  Skill  in  its  essence 
is  a  cursive  general  voluntary  power  finely  to 
adjust  the  muscles,  and  those  used  in  the  adapta- 
tions of  the  sense  organs  in  some  cases,  especially. 
Since  there  is  no  mental  process  without  muscular 
innervation,  skill  is  obviously  closely  allied  to 
intellect,  —  even  though  the  syllogism  here  em- 
ployed be  imperfect.  More  than  a  hundred  years 
ago  the  famous  Pestalozzi  said,  as  already  quoted  : 
"No  learning  without  skill",  —  a  dictum  for 
pedagogy  so  basal  as  to  be  worth  repetition  for  the 
sake  of  emphasis.  The  whole  relation  of  the  mind 
and  body  is  involved  in  an  actual  demonstration 
of  this  proposition  ;  but  it  certainly  can  be  accom- 
plished. Skill  is  potential  imagination  of  the 
practically  constructive  sort,  and  this  we  shall 
discuss,  as  a  means  to  easy  learning,  in  a  later 
chapter. 

Professor  Miinsterberg,  of  Harvard  University, 
offers  much  timely  wisdom  in  this  matter  in  one  of 
his  recent  books : 

"We  cannot  emphasize  too  much  the  similarity 
between  the  external  and  the  internal  actions,  between 
the  movements  of  the  limbs  and  the  movements  of  the 


54  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

thoughts.  To  remember,  to  invent,  to  attend,  to 
observe,  to  reason,  means  above  all  to  adjust  inner 
impulses  to  the  final  aim,  to  suppress  and  inhibit  those 
which  interfere  and  to  excite  and  reenforce  those  which 
lead  forward.  The  training  in  external  actions  is 
practically  the  model  process  for  the  training  in  all 
psychical  abilities.  If  we  are  to  gather  from  the  train- 
ing in  motor  abilities  the  principles  for  the  training  in 
abilities  in  general,  we  ought  to  put  emphasis  on  the 
following  psychological  factors.  First,  we  must  make 
use  of  the  involuntary  reflexes;  secondly,  we  must 
make  use  of  the  instinct  to  imitation ;  thirdly,  we  must 
resolve  the  complex  action  to  be  learned  into  its  ele- 
ments; fourthly,  we  must  reenforce  the  activity  by 
suggestion ;  and  lastly,  we  must  mechanize  the  process 
by  repetition. 

"  The  involuntary  motor  impulses  and  reflexes  are 
indeed  the  given  material  without  which  no  develop- 
ment of  voluntary  powers  can  be  understood.  There 
are  numberless  short  cuts  and  substitutions,  but  some- 
how all  learning  of  an  intentional  activity  starts  from 
the  experience  of  involuntary  reactions  which  come  up 
from  the  inborn  psychophysical  dispositions.  In  a 
corresponding  way  we  have  to  accept  the  tendency  to 
imitation  as  the  inborn  disposition  which  is  not  learned, 
but  which  precedes  learning.  No  child  could  learn  to 
speak  who  had  not  the  instinctive  impulse,  first,  to 
produce  sounds,  and  secondly  to  imitate  sounds.  This 
imitation  is  at  first  imperfect,  but  it  is  just  the  incom- 
pleteness of  the  success  which  drives  the  child  forward. 
The  most  essential  further  step  is  the  resolution  of  the 
action  into  simpler  motor  functions,  which  slowly 
become  combined.     Whether  the  child  learns  reading 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF  NOTES     55 

or  writing,  dancing  or  swimming,  carpentry  or  piano- 
playing,  the  whole  set  of  simultaneous  and  successive 
movements  must  be  built  up  by  imitating  the  single 
actions  which  in  themselves  are  useless  for  the  final 
purpose. 

"A  skilful  training  demands  no  less  the  suppression  of 
opposing  impulses,  and  this  is  the  place  where  sugges- 
tion has  its  chief  task.  Finally,  there  is  no  learning 
of  motor  ability  without  repetition :  every  new  perform- 
ance decreases  the  resistance  in  the  motor  path  until 
the  response  to  the  stimulus  becomes  automatic.  The 
formation  of  such  habits  is  the  significant  end.  The 
trained  piano  player  does  not  exert  his  will  for  the  special 
finger  movements.  As  soon  as  the  idea  of  playing 
controls  his  motor  setting,  the  black  dots  on  the  paper 
produce  the  immediate  impulse  to  the  right  finger- 
actions.  It  is  evident  that  the  cooperation  of  these 
five  psychophysical  factors  demands  the  most  perfect 
adjustment,  if  the  result  is  to  be  reached  in  the  shortest 
time,  with  the  smallest  effort  and  with  the  most  finished 
effect.  The  desirable  alternation  between  periods  of 
training  and  periods  of  rest,  the  rhythm  and  rapidity 
of  repetition  of  one  group  of  movements  before  a  new 
set  is  learned,  the  most  economic  analysis  of  the  com- 
plex, the  various  habits  of  manipulation  and  control, 
the  associations  formed  between  the  sensory  impressions 
and  the  actions  and  many  other  factors  must  determine 
the  advance." 

These  each  and  all  are  contributions,  or  might 

be  well  so  used,  as  to  how  to  learn  easily  at  any  age. 

Professor   J.    B.    Watson,    of   Johns    Hopkins 


56  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

University,  is  at  present  engaged  in  elaborate 
research  which  will  greatly  extend  the  work  of 
Bechterew  in  Petrograd  and  will  show  anew  how 
easily  made  are  many  highly  useful  bodily  asso- 
ciations through  the  extremely  adaptive  system 
of  nerve-units.  In  a  recent  address  before  the 
American  Psychological  Association,  he  sum- 
marized the  matter  somewhat  as  follows,  (in 
which  "reflex"  denotes  the  associate  reaction 
in  some  cases) :  — 

"As  Bechterew's  students  affirm,  we  find  that  a  sim- 
ple way  to  produce  the  reflex  is  to  give  a  sound-stimulus 
in  conjunction  with  a  strong  electro-tactual  stimulus. 
Bechterew's  students  use  the  reflex  withdrawal  of  the 
foot :  the  subject  sits  with  the  bare  foot  resting  on  two 
metal  electrodes.  When  the  faradic  stimulation  is 
given,  the  foot  is  jerked  up  from  the  metal  electrodes. 
The  movements  of  the  foot  are  recorded  graphically 
upon  smoked  paper.  .  .  .  We  found  that  the  reflex 
appears  in  the  finger  as  readily  as  in  the  toe.  So  satis- 
factory and  convenient  is  this  last  method  that  we  have 
adopted  it  in  all  our  later  work  with  human  subjects. 
A  bank  of  keys  is  provided  which  enables  the  experi- 
menter (he  is  in  a  different  room  of  course,  from  the 
subject)  to  give  at  will  the  sound  of  a  bell  coincidently 
with  the  current  or  separate  from  the  current.  In 
beginning  work  upon  any  new  subject  we  first  sound 
the  bell  alone  to  see  if  it  will  directly  produce  the  reflex. 
We  have  never  yet,  even  after  repeated  stimulations, 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF    NOTES     57 

been  able  to  get  the  reflex  evoked  by  the  bell  alone  prior 
to  the  electro-tactual  stimulation.  We  give  next  the 
bell  and  shock  simultaneously  for  about  five  trials ; 
then  again  offer  the  bell.  If  the  reaction  does  not  ap- 
pear, we  give  five  more  stimulations  with  the  bell  and 
current  simultaneously  —  etc.  The  conditioned  reflex 
makes  its  appearance  at  first  haltingly,  i.e.,  it  will  appear 
once  and  then  disappear.  Punishment  (faradism)  is 
then  given  again.  It  may  next  appear  twice  in  succes- 
sion and  again  disappear.  After  a  time  it  begins  to 
appear  regularly  every  time  the  bell  is  offered.  In  the 
best  cases  we  begin  to  get  a  conditioned  reflex  after 
fourteen  to  thirty  combined  stimulations." 

Such  easily-formed  new  associations  constitute 
the  bodily  basis,  in  part,  of  those  numberless  sets 
of  delicate  adjustments  of  the  muscles  and  glands 
and  sense  organs  on  which  depends  that  capability 
which,  lacking  a  better  word,  we  have  termed 
skill.  No  constructive  mental  process,  i.e.,  no 
learning,  is  possible  without  this  marvellous  ease  of 
association-sets  between  the  numerous  different 
muscles  and  sense-organs  of  the  learner,  and  be- 
tween the  learner  as  an  individual  and  his  sur- 
roundings or  "environment"  both  of  a  material 
nature  and  of  the  kind  we  term  spiritual  or  mental. 

Nowhere  are  these  hints  as  to  the  skilful  motor 
basis  of  mental  processes,  e.g.,  learning,  more 
appropriate  than  for  the  practice  of  observation. 


58  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

It  must  be  noted,  however,  for  future  reference, 
that  these  same  principles  of  facilitation  will  be 
applicable  repeatedly  in  different  phases  of  our 
counsel  on  easy-learning  —  in  imagining,  in  study- 
ing, in  reading,  in  thinking,  in  preparing  for  ex- 
amination, and  in  actually  performing  this  last 
climax  of  supposed  educational  cruelty. 

More  specifically  for  observation,  however,  and 
reduced  to  untechnical  terms,  expert  observation 
requires  concentrated  attention  (muscular  adapta- 
tion under  fine  voluntary  control)  to  the  entire 
object  or  process  under  observation,  both  as  to  its 
details  and  as  to  its  influencing  surroundings.  In 
other  words,  there  must  be  adequate  realization  of 
the  real  nature  of  the  object  observed,  and  adapted 
attention  to  both  its  internal  and  its  external 
relations.  Such  attention  based  on  knowledge 
would  seem  to  afford  the  best  chance  of  the  obser- 
vation-process being  efficiently  productive  of 
things  new  —  new  either  to  the  individual  or  to 
the  world  as  well.  One  might  almost,  though 
with  some  risk,  epitomize  the  practical  advice 
into  informed,  concentrated  attention  to  the  object 
and  its  relations. 

There  is  a  vast  satisfaction,  and  almost  a  sur- 
prise, in  active  observation.     There  is  no  end,  of 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF    NOTES     59 

course,  to  "the  miracle  of  nature",  and  ob- 
servation gives  us  an  acquaintance  with  this 
miracle.  Indeed  it  is  observation  alone  which 
makes  this  endless  marvel  explicit  in  a  student's 
mind. 

Laboratory-work,  shop-work,  studio-work,  field- 
work,  and  all  the  other  familiar  factors  in  present- 
day  practical  education,  are  but  systematized 
material  for  first-hand  observation.  The  wide 
success  of  this  method  of  actual,  first-hand  doing 
(doing  and  observation  are  one)  demonstrates  its 
supreme  importance  and  its  thorough  expediency 
despite  its  great  expense  of  time  and  of  money. 
In  some  professional  schools  it  has  probably  gone 
too  far;  but  in  no  elementary  school  the  world 
over  has  it  gone  nearly  far  enough  —  if  we  exclude 
the  kindergartens.  Laboratory  work  makes  "  mas- 
sive "  the  facts  and  the  principles  of  science,  fills 
them  out  and  makes  them  solid  and  substantial 
so  that  they  really  affect  the  mind.  For  all 
laboratory-work  a  practical  point  of  advice  is, 
Follow  the  directions  exactly  and  keep  detailed  and 
thoughtful  notes  of  what  you  yourself  particularly 
observe  and  learn  in  this  practical  manner.  My 
experience  in  the  psychological  and  physiological 
laboratories  has  been  that  that  is  the  first  definite 


60  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

step  towards  success,  but  very  many  students  do 
not  follow  the  directions  accurately  enough  to  be 
well  guided  in  their  work.  Practical  work  is  highly 
specialized  and  very  complex ;  so  that  we  should 
not  fail  to  follow  the  directions  exactly,  all  the 
while  thinking  how  to  develop  the  work.  We 
should  do  no  experiment  save  as  a  demonstration 
of  some  principle  or  of  some  extra-important  fact. 
That  is,  we  should  do  no  mechanical  work  in  a 
purely  mechanical  way.  Most  experiments  done 
in  a  laboratory  or  problems  worked  out  in  field 
work  are  intended  solely  as  demonstrations  of 
some  underlying  principle,  and  if  done  in  a  mechan- 
ical way  the  exercise  is  worse  than  doing  nothing 
at  all  and  is  not  even  rest.  WTien  true  and 
thoughtful  observation  can  be  obtained  thereby, 
laboratory  work  is  the  most  rapidly  mentally 
developing  of  all  kinds  of  study.  Demonstration 
of  the  extreme  value  of  first-hand  observation  may 
be  had  in  the  vast  amount  of  money  and  of  time 
expended  in  the  making,  building,  fitting,  and 
running  of  academic  and  industrial  laboratories. 
A  school  without  adequate  laboratories  and  as- 
sistants can  be  run  for  a  small  fraction  of  what 
it  costs  to  run  an  institution  with  them,  and  that 
difference  is  very  largely  a  matter  of  laboratory 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF    NOTES     Gl 

first-hand  observational  outfit  and  work.  With- 
out much  money,  then,  such  courses  ought  not 
be  offered  at  all,  and  indigent  schools  should  close 
up. 

Actual  statistics  based  on  careful  and  elaborate 
experimentation  have  recently  thrown  new  light 
on  this  matter  of  the  relative  values  of  different 
modes  of  instruction.  For  example,  Doctor  J.  E. 
Mayman,  of  New  York  University,  has  studied 
physics  in  this  regard,  and  reports  : : — 

"On  the  basis  of  efficiency  as  measured  by  percental 
attainments,  by  lasting  impressions  on  the  minds  of 
elementary  school  pupils,  by  persistence  in  memory,  by 
encouragement  of  independent  thought  and  self-reli- 
ance, and  by  popularity  among  the  pupils  the  three 
methods  rank  as  follows :  First,  experimental  method ; 
second,  lecture  method ;  third,  book  method.  On  the 
basis  of  minimal  time  consumption  in  the  actual  teach- 
ing of  the  lessons,  of  arousing  and  holding  interest  and 
attention,  and  of  the  minimal  expenditure  of  mental 
and  physical  energy,  they  rank  as  follows  :  First,  lecture 
method ;  second,  experimental  method ;  third,  book 
method.  On  the  basis  of  minimal  time  consumption 
by  the  teacher  in  the  preparation  of  the  lessons,  they 
rank :  First,  book  method ;  second,  lecture  method ; 
third,  experimental  method.  .  .  .  Carefully-written 
notebook  work  and  neatly-drawn  diagrams  of  science 
apparatus  do  not  increase  the  pupils'  knowledge  of 
elementary  science.    The  work  in  elementary  science 


62  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

must  be  concrete,  and  must  be  based  on  the  daily  ex- 
periences and  observations  of  the  pupil.  Elementary 
science  in  elementary  schools  should  be  largely,  if  not 
entirely,  qualitative,  and  not  quantitative.  As  regards 
elementary  science,  elementary  pupils  cannot  get  the 
thought  from  the  printed  page.  Simple  diagrams  are 
of  no  material  aid." 

These  conclusions  of  Dr.  Mayman  speak  for 
themselves. 

One  practical  application  of  these  results  of  trial 
and  measurement  is  their  demonstration  of  the 
great  usefulness,  in  the  education  of  a  boy  or  girl, 
of  home-laboratories,  workshops,  studios,  printing- 
offices,  museums,  and  so  on,  so  often  indeed  found 
in  the  inner  "sanctums"  of  boys  especially  — 
such  of  them  at  least  as  are  fired  with  native  energy 
and  interest  in  things  in  general  —  sites  of  activ- 
ities called  by  the  boys  themselves  (at  first)  play. 

But  how  much  in  human  value  is  this  play ! 
and  how  vastly  more  could  it  be  made  the  founda- 
tion of  our  school  system !  We  certainly  must 
remember  effectively,  making  it  a  guide  indeed  to 
the  reorganization  which  is  on  the  way,  that  our 
system  still  is  the  system  of  Comenius,  if  not  of 
the  ancients,  mostly  traditional  lore  from  a  time 
when  psychology  and  physiology,  when  the  de- 
pendence of  thought  and  of  imagination  and  of 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF   NOTES     63 

feeling  and  of  will  on  nerves  and  muscles  and 
glands  were  still  undreamed. 

In  the  address  just  quoted,  Dr.  Eliot  says :  — 

"The  changes  which  ought  to  be  made  immediately 
in  the  programs  of  American  secondary  schools,  in 
order  to  correct  the  glaring  deficiencies  of  the  present 
programs,  are  chiefly  the  introduction  of  more  hand,  ear, 
and  eye  work,  such  as  drawing,  carpentry,  turning, 
music,  sewing,  and  cooking ;  and  the  giving  of  much 
more  time  to  the  sciences  of  observation  —  chemistry, 
physics,  biology,  and  geography,  not  political,  but 
geological  and  ethnographical  geography.  These  sci- 
ences should  be  taught  in  the  most  concrete  manner 
possible  —  that  is,  in  laboratories,  with  ample  experi- 
menting done  by  the  individual  pupil  with  his  own  eyes 
and  hands,  and  in  the  field  through  the  pupil's  own 
observation  guided  by  expert  leaders.  In  secondary 
schools  situated  in  the  country  the  elements  of  agricul- 
ture should  have  an  important  place  in  the  program, 
and  the  pupils  should  all  work  in  the  school  gardens  and 
experimental  plats,  both  individually  and  in  cooperation 
with  others.  In  city  schools  a  manual  training  should 
be  given  which  should  prepare  a  boy  for  any  one  of 
many  different  trades,  not  by  familiarizing  him  with  the 
details  of  actual  work  in  any  trade,  but  by  giving  him 
an  all-round  bodily  vigor,  a  nervous  system  capable  of 
multiform  coordinated  efforts,  a  liking  for  doing  his  best 
in  competition  with  mates,  and  a  widely  applicable  skill 
of  eye  and  hand.  Again,  music  should  be  given  a 
substantial  place  in  the  program  of  every  secondary 
school,  in  order  that  all  the  pupils  may  learn  musical 


64  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

notation,  and  may  get  much  practice  in  reading  music 
and  in  singing.  Drawing,  both  freehand  and  mechani- 
cal, should  be  given  ample  time  in  every  secondary 
school  program ;  because  it  is  an  admirable  mode  of 
expression  which  supplements  language  and  is  often  to 
be  preferred  to  it,  lies  at  the  foundation  of  excellence  in 
many  arts  and  trades,  affords  simultaneously  good 
training  for  both  eye  and  hand,  and  gives  much  enjoy- 
ment throughout  life  to  the  possessor  of  even  a  moderate 
amount  of  skill. 

"The  suggested  changes  in  American  school  programs 
will  not  make  public  school  life  harder  or  more  fatiguing 
for  the  pupils.  On  the  contrary,  observational  study 
and  concrete  teaching  are  more  interesting  to  both 
children  and  adults  than  memory  study  of  any  sort; 
and  whenever  the  interest  of  pupils  is  aroused,  it  brings 
out  more  concentrated  attention  and  harder  work,  but 
causes  less  fatigue.  The  obvious  utility  of  mental  labor 
directed  to  a  practical  end  increases  the  interest  the 
pupils  take  in  their  work,  and  stimulates  them  to  effec- 
tive effort.  To  use  a  good  tool  or  machine  and  get  the 
results  it  is  competent  to  produce  when  in  skillful  hands, 
is  vastly  more  interesting  than  reading  or  hearing  about 
the  uses  of  such  a  tool  or  machine.  Whenever,  by  the 
use  of  observational  and  concrete  methods,  the  pupils' 
power  of  attention  and  of  concentrated  effort  is  devel- 
oped, that  power  of  attention  once  acquired  can  be 
exercised  in  other  subjects.  This  principle  holds  true 
not  only  of  manual  or  bodily  labor  but  also  of  games  and 
sports,  and  of  cooperation  in  rhythmical  movements, 
like  dancing.  The  power  of  concentrated  attention 
won  in  carpentry,  turning,  forging,  or  farm  work  is  easily 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF  NOTES     65 

transferred  to  work  in  reading,  writing,  and  ciphering, 
or  at  a  later  stage  in  history,  literature,  and  civics ;  so 
that  the  reduction  in  the  so-called  academic  studies 
made  to  allow  the  introduction  of  observational  studies 
need  not  result  in  less  attainment  in  the  academic 
studies  themselves. 

"  For  this  great  improvement  in  the  conduct  of  Ameri- 
can secondary  schools  a  good  deal  of  preparation  has 
already  been  made.  The  new  schools  of  mechanic  arts, 
the  trade  schools,  the  various  endowed  institutes  for 
giving  a  sound  training  in  applied  science,  and  such 
institutions  as  the  Hampton  Institute  and  Tuskegee 
Institute  are  showing  how  to  learn  by  actual  seeing, 
hearing,  touching,  and  doing,  instead  of  by  reading  and 
committing  to  memory.  They  have  proved  that  the 
mental  powers,  as  well  as  the  bodily  powers,  are  strongly 
developed  by  the  kind  of  instruction  they  give ;  so  that 
nobody  need  apprehend  that  reduced  attention  to 
memory  subjects,  with  increased  attention  to  the  train- 
ing of  the  senses,  the  muscles,  and  the  nerves,  will  result 
in  a  smaller  capacity  for  sound  thinking  and  for  the 
exercise  of  an  animating  good  will." 

So  much  as  to  the  taking  of  notes  on  the  tablets 
of  our  memories.  Next,  as  to  the  taking  of  notes 
on  paper  or  (in  the  case  of  youthful  remote  pupils) 
on  the  slate. 

It  has  been  said  sometimes  even  by  adequate 
university  professors  of  some  subjects,  "Do  not 
take  notes  but  train  your  minds!"  Now  this 
viewpoint  is  correct  and  perfectly  sanctioned  by 


66  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

psychology  provided,  always  provided,  that  we 
immediately  go  home  or  to  our  rooms  and  run  over 
in  several  good  textbooks  the  very  topic  that  we 
have  just  heard  about  in  the  lecture  or  recitation. 
The  same  thing  may  be  accomplished  by  discussing 
a  lecture  with  a  party  of  fellow  students.  Other- 
wise, in  almost  all  modern  subjects,  the  taking  of 
notes  is  absolutely  essential.  And  these  conditions 
are  seldom  met  with  in  practice.  In  the  first 
place,  only  a  few  students  have  a  sufficiently  com- 
plete list  of  textbooks  on  any  one  subject;  and 
quite  as  few  have  the  time  or  the  occasion  to  review 
and  discuss  the  topic  or  subject  immediately 
after  its  presentation.  Therefore  the  taking  of 
notes  would  be  one  of  expedience  and  is,  on  the 
whole,  the  best  practicable  means.  Now,  on  cer- 
tain subjects,  even  the  suggested  review,  either 
in  textbooks  or  by  conversation,  would  be  quite 
inadequate.  Of  a  lecture  on  organic  chemistry, 
for  example,  in  which  large  numbers  of  complex 
compounds  are  discussed,  only  a  small  fraction 
could  be  retained  by  anyone,  or,  in  any  event, 
only  at  a  wholly  improper  expenditure  of  nervous 
energy.  The  objections  to  note-taking  were  more 
reasonable  two  hundred  years  ago  than  they  are 
now,  for  a  century  or  two  ago,  a  man  of  intelli- 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF  NOTES     67 

gence  and  diligence  could  learn  pretty  much  every- 
thing valuable  that  there  was  to  be  learned.  A 
man  in  a  few  years  could  learn  all  the  science  and  a 
considerable  part  of  the  literary  knowledge  of  the 
entire  world.  On  the  other  hand,  to-day  science 
and  learning  in  general  are  so  divided  up  into 
specialties  that  no  man  can  learn  in  a  lifetime 
more  than  one  per  cent  of  the  world's  substantial 
knowledge.  Hence,  written  notes  must  be  taken 
so  that  they  may  be  kept  and  their  details  and 
endless  interrelations  conned  and  learned  at  leisure 
outside  the  lecture  or  the  recitation-room. 

Another  point,  already  stated,  is  that  the 
memory  is  not  developable.  Technically,  we 
cannot  develop  our  memories.  It  is  not  like  an 
ample  chest  (thorax)  or  a  good  disposition,  but 
it  is  more  like  a  big  foot  or  a  large  ear :  we  are 
born  with  them  and  they  cannot  ordinarily  be 
improved  with  expediency.  We  can  train  the 
use  of  our  memories,  but  it  has  been  demonstrated 
that  to  train  the  span  of  retention  practically  is 
impossible.  Memory  is  a  birth-gift  —  we  have  a 
good  memory  or  a  bad  memory  or  an  ordinary 
memory  and  we  can  learn  how  to  use  it. 

Notes,  then,  become  practically  essential,  and  in 
part,  too,  because  of  the  economy  of  nerve-force 


68  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

which  the  taking  of  notes  implies.  (We  should 
not  be  guided  generally  in  practice  by  what  we 
actually  can  do  :  it  is  what  we  can  do  economically 
that  counts  as  of  most  value.  In  the  matter  of 
exposure,  for  example,  it  is  not  whether  we  are 
safely  to  run  risks  of  getting  pneumonia,  but 
whether  it  is  expedient  or  unwise  to  run  these 
risks.  It  is  economy  to  stay  in  the  house  for  a 
few  days  whenever  we  have  a  bad  infectious  cold. 
So  it  is  with  nerve-expense.) 

Notes  are  essential  as  a  means  to  the  formation  of 
the  habit  of  logical  thought.  It  is  essential  that  we 
should  arrange  notes  so  that  the  facts  and  princi- 
ples in  them  are  presented  in  a  systematic  manner 
and  accurately  and  concisely.  Done  in  this  way, 
the  taking  of  notes  is  the  quickest  method  of 
putting  the  mind  in  like  logical  order. 

Lectures,  again,  are  full  of  facts  and  so  are  text- 
books, and  one  of  the  surest  ways  of  providing  the 
subconscious  mind  with  ideas  to  use,  is  a  studied 
and  systematic  arrangement  of  ample  notes  and 
the  frequent  abstracting  of  them.  In  this  manner 
(probably  through  the  motor  activities  required 
by  the  writing-process)  the  brain  is  impressed  by  a 
series  of  motor  pathways  as  well  as  by  a  relatively 
ample  number  of  sensory  pathways.     An  impor- 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF  NOTES     69 

tant  factor  in  note-taking  is  that  the  notes  should 
be  arranged  scientifically,  and  that  means  logically 
—  for  example,  like  the  adequate  table  of  contents 
of  an  elaborate  scientific  book.  The  mind  works 
continually  on  the  principles  of  symbols  and  of 
complexes,  and  notes  are  the  best  possible  means  of 
providing  economical  food  to  the  brain  and  to  the 
mind.  We  should  have  center-headings,  side- 
headings,  under-lines,  and,  in  many  cases,  the  use 
of  different  colored  crayons  for  the  impression  of 
this  essential  logical  subdivision.  These  manual 
means  represent  the  many  different  sizes  of  type 
and  type-faces  in  a  printed  book. 

Another  reason  for  the  use  of  notebooks 
lies  in  the  familiar  fact  that  ideas  may  come 
out  of  the  associating  mind  and  yet  be  wholly 
lost  to  that  mind  unless  secured  for  future  in- 
corporation. In  the  composition  of  articles,  the 
elaboration  of  explanations  or  of  hypotheses,  and 
especially  in  psychological  and  mathematical 
analysis,  this  necessity  for  fixing  the  elusive  ideas 
is  often  conspicuous.  Effective  mind  is  what 
counts ;  knowledge,  systems  of  ideas,  purposes, 
understanding  which  may  be  used.  Sturt,  the 
idealistic  logician  at  Oxford,  expresses  it  well : 
"Truth-seeking  and  truth-finding  are  subordinate 


70  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

to  the  formation  of  purposes  and  the  satisfaction 
of  desires."  Many  new  products,  especially  if 
somewhat  incongruous  with  the  working  mind, 
wholly  escape,  and  perhaps  escape  for  good, 
unless  recorded  where,  in  the  practical  sense,  they 
may  be  learned,  that  is  made  usable,  —  for  this 
usability  is  included  in  all  real  learning,  in  the 
kindergarten  as  well  as  in  the  seminar. 

As  corollary  of  this  approbation  of  note-taking 
is  their  value,  often  tremendous,  as  cues  or  stim- 
uli of  knowledge  and  thought  after  —  perhaps 
many  years  after  —  the  notes  are  made.  Every 
thinker  and  every  writer  realizes  this  thoroughly. 
His  notes  serve  the  purposes  of  the  sketches  of 
the  painter  or  the  recorded  themes,  motifs,  and 
"snatches"  of  the  creative  musician.  In  general 
the  old-time  and  now  outworn  adynamic  notion 
of  mind  has  sometimes  unduly  prejudiced  the 
value  of  notes,  oftentimes  ike  seed  of  a  rich  harvest, 
immediate  or  remote.  It  is  perhaps  not  generally 
enough  realized  that  a  mind  may  produce  things 
and  then  utterly  lose  them. 

A  notebook  should  be  made  of  large  pages,  loose 
pages  preferably,  and  unruled,  so  that  we  shall  not 
be  confined  to  handwriting  of  a  certain  size.  If 
unruled  paper  is  used  we  have  not  only  a  chance 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF  NOTES     71 

for  much  more  freedom  in  that  respect,  but  a 
chance  also  for  pictures.  An  8  X  11  inch  note- 
book is  ideal.  Pocket  notebooks  are  extremely 
important.  We  should  take  a  notebook  with  us 
almost  wherever  we  go,  if  we  are  strongly  ambi- 
tious to  learn  broadly  and  accurately  as  the  years 
go  past.  These  "commonplace  books"  in  a  way 
serve  also  as  a  history  of  our  education. 

In  the  taking  of  notes  the  use  of  abbreviations 
is  of  the  utmost  importance.  We  should  develop 
easily  a  code  of  our  own ;  shorthand  is  almost 
indispensable  for  the  student,  but  we  can  easily 
develop  a  useful  system  of  abbreviations  of  our 
personal  invention  much  more  quickly  than  we 
realize;  in  the  passing  years  such  a  system  will 
save  much  time.  These  abbreviations  are  for  the 
purpose  of  saving  time,  not  paper.  In  lieu  of  a 
fountain  pen,  use  plenty  of  soft  pencils ;  and 
acquire  the  habit  of  using  many  colored  grease- 
crayons. 

Diagrams  are  sometimes  of  immense  importance 
in  the  taking  of  notes ;  in  general  they  are  of  value 
as  much  according  to  their  simplicity  as  at  other 
times  according  to  their  complexity ;  so  we  must 
not  refuse  to  copy  a  diagram  because,  as  we  often 
hear,  "  I  cannot  draw."     We  acquire  the  habit  of 


72  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

drawing  diagrams  much  faster  than  we  realize, 
and,  when  drawn,  each  expresses  much  for  the  use 
of  the  associative  mind.  The  making  of  graphs  is 
of  great  importance  because  a  graph  oftentimes 
expresses  more  than  could  whole  pages  of  technical 
description,  —  and  far  better,  too. 

Reviewing  notes  is  of  much  importance.  Prof. 
H.  A.  Peterson,  of  the  Illinois  State  Normal 
University,  says  on  the  measured  effects  of 
reviewing : *  — 

"The  purpose  of  the  study  is  to  get  some  measures 
of  what  reviews  accomplish  under  conditions  similar 
to  those  of  school  work.  The  subjects  were  normal 
school  students  in  classes  of  from  45  to  75.  The  class 
was  divided  into  two  groups  of  about  equal  ability 
determined  by  means  of  a  prose-substance  test.  All 
were  then  given  %\  minutes  for  studying  a  passage  25 
lines  long,  followed  by  an  immediate  recall  (written) 
for  which  a  maximum  of  12  minutes  was  allowed.  The 
aim  was  to  reproduce  as  much  of  the  substance  as  possi- 
ble. In  grading,  one  point  was  allowed  for  each  idea. 
A  week  later  while  one  group  was  occupied  with  the 
class  work,  the  other  reviewed  and  re- wrote  the  passage, 
the  purpose  of  this  re-writing  being  simply  for  fixation. 
Two  and  one  half  minutes  were  again  allowed  for  read- 
ing and  a  maximum  of  12  minutes  for  writing.  In  some 
classes  there  were  three  groups,  the  third  group  receiv- 

1  In  a  paper  read  at  a  recent  meeting  of  the  American  Psychological 
Association. 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF  NOTES     73 

ing  a  second  review  two  weeks  after  learning.  Three, 
four,  six,  or  eighteen  weeks  after  first  studying  the 
passage,  the  final  recall  which  measured  the  effect  of 
the  review  came. 

"The  results  so  far  are :  After  three  weeks  the  one- 
review  group  recalls  1.89  times  as  much  as  the  no-review 
group.  After  six  weeks  the  one-review  group  recalls 
about  1.33  times  as  much  as  the  no-review  group,  and 
after  eighteen  weeks  the  superiority  of  the  former  has 
sunk  to  about  25  per  cent.  After  six  weeks  the  two- 
review  group  recalls  about  twice  as  much  as  the  no- 
review  group,  and  after  eighteen  weeks  the  former 
recalls  1.8  times  as  much  as  the  latter. 

"While  the  reviews  here  used  were  undoubtedly 
thorough,  the  results  probably  exceed  the  most  common 
expectations.  While  the  effect  of  the  review,  like  that 
of  the  first  learning,  decreases  rapidly  at  first,  and  later 
more  slowly,  a  substantial  residue  remains  after  the 
sixth  week.  All  of  the  results  were  obtained  from  the 
use  of  a  single  historical  selection  of  only  moderate  diffi- 
culty." 

The  reason  for  these  results  we  do  not  need  to 
discuss  in  detail.  They  depend  on  the  principles 
of  habit-formation,  that  universal  process  under- 
lying all  that  lives,  which  later  on  we  shall  have 
need  of  considering  briefly  in  sundry  connections. 

Laboratory  notebooks  are  extremely  important 
in  education.  They  are  so  especially  because  they 
constitute  the  records  of  discovery  and  research  so 
far  as  we,  at  least,  are  concerned.     Laboratory  or 


74  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

field  work  on  nature  at  first  hand,  so  far  as  we  are 
concerned,  really  is  research  and  discovery  no 
matter  if  the  facts  have  been  discovered  by  others 
before  us. 

Notes  nearly  always  should  be  in  our  own  words. 
Otherwise  they  are  "cribs"  for  the  mind's  use  and 
properly  not  notes  at  all.  A  good  lecture  is 
explanation  and  not  dictation  of  a  set  of  cribs ; 
not  description  but  explanation.  In  some  schools 
there  is  far  too  much  lecturing  and  far  too  little 
studied  review  of  textbooks  by  means  of  recita- 
tion. The  same  is  equally  true  of  books  as  of 
lectures.  Notes  are  of  no  real  educative  use  unless 
or  until  they  have  been  sufficiently  worked  over 
in  our  minds  as  to  be  expressed  readily  in  our  own 
words.  Therefore,  the  importance  of  using  our 
own  English.  There  is  no  rule  for  this  better, 
perhaps,  than  taking  notes  "just  as  we  would  talk 
them  to  a  little  sister  seven  years  old  at  home" 
simple  and  direct  and  explicit. 

The  subconscious  mind  fuses  and  retains  the 
facts  on  the  principles  of  symbolic  action,  and 
continually  elaborates  them.  That  is  one  of  the 
important  reasons  for  taking  adequate  notes. 
Each  note  should  serve  as  a  symbol  by  which  the 
mind   (and  nervous  system)   can  get  hold  of  it 


OBSERVATION  AND  TAKING  OF  NOTES     75 

and  connect  it  for  use  with  other  facts  and  other 
principles  already  secured. 

We  should  keep  our  notes  always  posted  up.  I 
do  not  mean  summarized  daily  in  writing,  but  I 
do  mean  posted  up  in  the  brain.  Notes  which  are 
not  reviewed  become  dead  notes  (rests)  in  a  few 
days !  It  is  not  really  necessary  to  summarize 
notes  in  writing  in  the  notebook,  but  in  keeping 
them  mentally  posted  up  we  train  the  mind  always 
to  be  abstracting.  We  should  make  notes  as  we  \ 
would  like  our  minds  to  be :  First,  abundant; 
second,  accurate;  third,  logical;  and,  fourth, 
free. 

Another  thing  worth  considering,  perhaps,  is 
the  importance  and  practical  value  of  preserving 
notebooks  (the  same  being  true  of  textbooks). 
In  the  first  place,  they  often  are  practically  useful 
later  on  in  our  careers.  Many  of  the  courses 
given  by  students  soon  after  leaving  school  are 
practically  the  reproduction  of  the  lectures  which 
they  have  had  in  school !  Second,  good  notes  are 
part  of  the  mind  just  as  our  mothers  and  our 
sweethearts  and  our  childhood-homes  are  parts  of 
our  personality  (see  James's  "Me").  More  than 
that,  our  sons  and  daughters  may,  and  probably 
will,  value  them  at  some  future  time.     In  a  later 


76  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

discussion   we   shall   consider   our   notebooks   in 
relation  to  examinations. 

Another  important  thing  in  the  taking  and  the 
learning  of  notes  is  the  forgetting  of  things  which 
should  be  forgotten.  It  has  been  said  by  some 
psychologist  that  forgetting  is  only  less  important 
than  remembering.  By  glancing  over  our  notes 
we  may  select  the  important  things  and  neglect  the 
dead  and  adynamic  things  which  are  to  be  for- 
gotten passively.  Nothing  once  impressed,  it 
seems,  ever  leaves  the  brain,  save  by  gross  loss  of 
cerebral  tissue;  the  impression  in  some  form 
continues  during  life.  What  we  actually  have  in 
our  recallable  working  minds  is,  then,  only  a  small 
fraction  of  what  in  some  mysterious  manner  is 
impressed  in  our  brains.  So  it  is  true  that  only  a 
relatively  small  portion  of  the  notes  can  be  remem- 
bered properly  ;  the  rest  may  be  forgotten.  Some 
things  are  quick,  and  become  active  agents  in  our 
education ;  but  some,  too,  are  wholly  dead  for  us, 
and  are  (and  should  be)  lost  out  of  our  effective 
minds. 


CHAPTER  III 

EDUCATIVE  IMAGINATION 

In  the  previous  chapter  we  ran  over  some  of 
the  practical  considerations  of  observation  and  of 
taking  notes,  both  on  the  tablets  of  our  memories 
(observation)  and  on  tablets  of  paper,  —  note- 
books. How,  practically,  we  can  further  the  use 
of  these  notes,  both  cerebral  and  manuscript,  in 
the  learning-process,  is  our  next  inquiry.  This 
process  in  practice  may  be  analyzed  and  under- 
stood, and  thus  improved  materially,  in  any  given 
mind. 

Imagination,  as  we  shall  discuss  it,  may  not  be 
easily  defined  except  by  suggesting  what  it  is  not : 
It  is  not  falsehood  and  untruth,  but  a  most  es- 
sential form  of  mental  truth ;  and  educationally 
it  is  of  great  practical  use  and  importance.  We 
may  wonder  how  imagination,  as  we  think  of  it, 
can  be  important  in  learning  at  all.  The  reason 
for  this  doubt  is  that  a  wrong  meaning  of  the 
term  "imagination"  has  crept  into  general  un- 

77 


78  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

technical  use,  namely,  that  it  is  delusion,  a  false 
idea,  an  error  of  thinking,  the  seeing  of  something 
that  is  not  there ;  false  perception  —  in  other 
words,  error  and  falsehood  rather  than  something 
which  is  true  and  real  and  in  every  educational  way 
important.  Imagination,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
one  of  the  most  productive  mental  processes  in 
the  whole  educative  procedure.  It  is  "the  rep- 
resentative power"  of  the  mind,  but  this,  as  we 
shall  see,  involves  much,  since  in  a  broad  sense  it 
includes  many  of  the  active  constructive  oper- 
ations of  the  mental  life.  Dean  J.  R.  Angell,  the 
eminent  psychologist  of  the  University  of  Chi- 
cago, emphasizes  the  two  leading  features  of 
imagination  when  he  writes  that  it  "  is  to  be  viewed 
not  only  as  the  process  whereby  the  ordinary 
practical  affairs  of  life  are  guided,  in  so  far  as  they 
require  foresight,  but  also  the  medium  through 
which  most  of  the  world's  finer  types  of  happi- 
ness are  brought  to  pass."  Surely  a  thing  which 
at  once  guides  our  lives  and  gives  us  happiness  is 
of  much  account ;  and  in  the  learning-procedure 
it  is  not  of  less  account  than  elsewhere.  Imag- 
ination may  be  denoted  as  the  use  of  the  mind 
backwards  or  forwards,  turning  the  mind  into 
the  past  or  into  the  future  but  not  directly  into 


EDUCATIVE  IMAGINATION  79 

the  present.  Although  one  of  the  most  con- 
spicuous aspects  of  the  nature  of  imagination, 
this  is  only  one. 

Memory  is  a  form  of  imagination  called  re- 
productive imagination.  Foresight,  in  a  broad 
sense,  is  another  form  called  the  constructive 
imagination,  which,  however,  we  shall  discuss  in 
a  way  to  include  a  much  more  active  process  than 
this.  Influence  of  the  mind  on  the  body  is  called 
organic  imagination.  Each  form  has  notable 
practical  concern  in  learning.  Our  present  search 
is  as  to  how  this  fact  is  so  and  as  to  the  practical 
means  of  developing  imagination,  if  not  already 
ample  and  rich,  in  ourselves,  and  in  our  pupils 
or  students. 

Let  us,  then,  take  up  these  three  kinds  of  edu- 
cative imagination,  one  after  the  other,  and  see 
what  we  can  suggest  about  them  in  the  way  of 
practical  use  in  easy  learning. 

Reproductive  imagination  is  memory  or  recall. 
There  is  evidence  that  the  nervous  system  re- 
tains every  clear  impression  made  on  it,  but  how 
long  we  do  not  as  yet  know.  A  great  many  cases 
have  occurred  from  time  to  time  which  demon- 
strate that  in  some  way  this  is  the  case.  There 
are  three  general  types  of  retention-memory  that 


80  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

have  more  or  less  to  do  with  the  reproductive 
imagination.  Some  of  these  "memories"  are 
hereditary  and  inborn,  and  are  represented  in  the 
spinal  cord  —  the  reflexes.  The  sneeze,  the  cough- 
reflex,  and  the  like,  are  more  or  less  uninten- 
tionally performed  and  controlled.  Then  there 
are  some  memories  which  are  controlled  further 
up  in  the  brain,  the  instincts  and  emotions,  having 
social  as  well  as  personal  reference.  It  is  im- 
portant for  educative  purposes  that  the  latter 
memories  involve  the  previous  kind  as  well. 
The  third  type  of  the  reproductive  imagination  is 
located  in  the  upper  extremity  of  the  nervous 
system  —  in  the  cortex  of  the  brain.  These  are 
the  latest  additions  in  the  evolution  of  the  brain, 
memories  proper,  and  only  a  few  of  them  are 
conscious  at  any  one  time.  These  last,  like  the 
preceding,  should  completely  involve  the  other 
two. 

The  fundamental  principle  of  habit  is  what  de- 
termines the  usefulness  of  these  forms  of  memory 
for  easy  learning.  Their  respective  power  of 
recall  depends  on  their  relative  influence  on  the 
more  conscious  parts  of  the  brain.  There  is, 
then,  one  general  learning-principle  —  that  all 
these  three  kinds  of  memory  should  be  given  habitual 


EDUCATIVE  IMAGINATION  81 

yet  conscious  reference,  as  conscious  as  is  volun- 
tarily possible.  Reduced  from  physiological  to 
practical  terms,  this  means  that  we  come  again  to 
the  skill  which  we  discussed  in  the  last  chapter  — 
conscious  acquaintance  with  and  mastery  of  all 
parts  of  the  body  that  may  properly  come  (with- 
out interference  with  function)  under  voluntary 
control.  This  is  one  of  the  physiologic  bases  of 
rapid  and  permanent  acquirement.  By  this  means 
every  learning  pathway  is  open  for  use  in  the 
acquirement  of  knowledge.  Here  physical  train- 
ing gets  its  highest  sanction  and  usefulness,  as 
the  writer  has  set  forth  elsewhere  at  length. 

The  power  of  recall  of  what  once  has  been  re- 
membered is  one  of  the  essential  things  for  learn- 
ing. The  perfection  of  the  memory-record  is 
beyond  control,  but  this  power  of  recall  may  be 
greatly  developed.  We  must  remember  contin- 
ually that  the  brain  acts  more  or  less  on  the 
symbolic  system,  using  a  method  of  shorthand 
symbols,  which  are  in  some  way  impressed  in  the 
brain  processes ;  these  are  essentially  neural  or 
neuro-muscular  integrations.  Hence  the  need  of 
reviewing:  in  order  that  these  associations  or 
integration-complexes  may  be  connected  more 
intimately  together,  and  as  a  complex  with  the 


82  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

rest  of  the  mind.  Recall  is  thus  made  easier  and 
more  useful,  for  facts  and  their  relations  are  sorted 
out  and  oftentimes  labeled  with  a  name,  as  with 
all  "general  ideas."  By  this  means  and  perhaps 
only  thus  they  are  made  available  for  use  at  will. 
Another  practical  point  for  the  use  of  the  re- 
productive imagination  is  that  it  should  be  im- 
pressed with  a  feeling-tone  of  some  sort.  It  is  the 
emotional  tone  of  nearly  everything  of  a  mental 
nature  which  gives  it  its  "push"  and  determines 
its  useful  activity.  The  exact  kind  of  feeling 
for  this  purpose  is  not  so  important  as  is  the  bare 
fact  that  the  memory  always  should  be  associ- 
ated with  some  sort  of  feeling-tone.  Feeling  and 
not  the  idea  is  the  mind's  great  energizer.  There- 
fore, in  general,  we  remember  best  our  pleasant 
(or  very  unpleasant)  experiences.  At  the  first 
glance  over  our  memories,  that  does  not,  perhaps, 
appear  obvious  but  in  the  long  run  it  is  dis- 
tinctly true.  It  has  recently  been  shown  by 
actual  experiment  that  young  school-girls,  at 
least,  remember  best  their  pleasant  experiences. 
In  other  words,  other  things  being  equal,  we 
should  study  chiefly  and  should  remember  those 
subjects  which  are  pleasing  to  us.  This  is  one  of 
the  reasons  for  the  privilege  of  selecting  subjects 


EDUCATIVE  IMAGINATION  83 

of  study  in  school,  —  the  "sanction"  of  the 
elective-system. 

When  the  reproductive  imagination  (memory) 
seems  wholly  perfect  to  the  individual,  the  ex- 
perience is  called  an  hallucination.  Thus  when 
we  have  an  hallucination  we  perceive  something 
which  is  not  really  there  at  all.  This  happens 
only  under  conditions  of  mental  overstrain  or  of 
derangement  of  some  sort.  So  far  as  the  per- 
fection of  recall  is  concerned,  it  is  quite  impossi- 
ble for  a  really  perfect  reproduction  of  the  original 
impression  to  occur.  The  moral  of  this  discus- 
sion of  the  imperfection  of  the  imagination  is  that 
the  memory  is  never  exact.  Recall  is  never  nor- 
mally exact,  and  the  student  must  act  on  this 
principle  in  all  ways. 

Nevertheless  the  reproductive  imagination  is 
often  of  very  great  service  in  learning,  both  in 
the  recall  of  words  seen  and  heard  continually,  and 
the  like,  and  in  picturing  to  ourselves  for  use  the 
conditions  of  hidden  or  absent  structures.  We 
have  already  noted  how  indispensable  the  visual 
imagination,  in  both  its  reproductive  and  its 
constructive  aspects,  is  in  anatomy,  physiology, 
geometry,  physics,  and  so  on.  The  same  is  al- 
most equally  true  in  many  other  sciences  —  in 


84  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

fact  in  most  branches  of  learning.  The  differ- 
ence, for  example,  in  the  liking  for  or  dislike  of 
geometry  by  students  sometimes  depends  largely 
on  their  relative  power  of  visualizing  the  spatial 
problems  involved.  Therefore,  we  should  develop 
to  its  limit  this  power  of  seeing  things  in  the  mind's 
eye  —  and  of  hearing  them,  and  feeling  them  and 
smelling  them  and  tasting  them.  Thus  the  ma- 
terial world  is,  for  educative  purposes,  extended 
in  far  wider  mental  relationships  than  otherwise. 
The  second  form  of  imagination  which  we  shall 
discuss  is  constructive  imagination.  For  edu- 
cational purposes,  this  is  by  far  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  three.  The  reason  that  recall  of  our 
memory  is  never  exact  is  that  the  mind  is  an 
active  process,  always  doing  something.  The 
neurons  are  alive  with  energy  and  always  de- 
velop their  mental  contents  when  not  in  some  way 
prevented.  Thus  speaking  educationally,  all  imag- 
ination is  more  or  less  constructive.  You  have 
heard  it  said  that  we  learn  to  swim  out-of-water 
in  the  winter-time,  or  to  play  tennis ;  we  some- 
times learn  to  love  a  person  better  during  his 
absence,  which  proverbially  "maketh  the  heart 
grow  fonder.''  These  are  all  processes  of  con- 
structive imagination ;   and  in  the  last  case,  when 


EDUCATIVE  IMAGINATION  85 

we  get  back  to  the  beloved  person  we  sometimes 
realize  the  constructive  difference.  All  this,  of 
course,  is  an  important  subconscious  process : 
but  in  the  human  mind  at  least,  imagination  has 
more  power  than  this  relatively  passive  process 
of  subconscious  elaboration. 

A  research  *  made  by  the  writer  gives  a  concrete 
illustration  of  the  active,  image-making  "associ- 
ation" in  the  minds  of  people :  — 

A  STUDY  OF  IMAGINATIONS 

To  "see  things"  in  the  ever-changing  outlines 
of  summer  clouds  or  among  the  flames  and  em- 
bers of  a  fire,  has  doubtless  in  all  ages  been  to 
imaginative  men  a  source  of  entertainment  and 
delight.  Much  of  the  charm  of  this  pastime 
comes  no  doubt  from  the  commonly  accompany- 
ing circumstance  of  leisure,  and  from  the  novelty 
of  exercising  an  aspect  of  mind  all  too  little  used 
and  given  freedom.  Another  element  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  habit,  however,  comes  from  the  end- 
less variation  in  the  forms  which  different  per- 
sons fancy  from  any  given  contour  or  in  any 
simple   presented    shape.     For    the    purposes    of 

1  Published  in  The  American  Journal  of  Psychology  in  January, 
1898  (volume  nine,  number  two). 


86  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

studying  the  reproductive  imaginations  of  men 
and  women,  the  psychologist  might  well  desire  to 
take  the  clouds  into  his  control  and  bid  them 
serve  him ;  but  they  are  far  beyond  him  and  will 
not  for  a  moment  stay. 

To  reproduce,  then,  under  applicable  and  con- 
trollable conditions  these  familiar  studies  of 
human  fancy,  the  following  simple  means  have 
been  adopted,  and  they  constitute  the  complete 
apparatus,  simple  enough,  of  the  investigation. 
Chance  blots  of  ink,  made  by  pressing  gently 
with  the  finger  a  drop  of  common  writing  fluid 
between  two  squares  of  paper,  furnished  all  the 
variety  of  outline  imaginable.  (More  explicit 
suggestions  for  the  manufacture  and  usefulness 
of  these  characters  introduced  as  psychological 
material  by  the  author,  may  be  found  in  the 
Psychological  Review  for  May,  1897,  page  390.) 
The  bits  of  gummed  paper  3  cm.  square  bearing 
the  blots,  scarce  any  one  of  which  resembled  any 
other,  were  then  attached  to  cards  convenient  for 
the  hand  and  arranged  in  twelve  sets  of  ten  blots 
each,  the  members  of  each  set  being  numbered 
consecutively  from  one  to  ten  with  Arabic  and 
the  sets  themselves  in  Roman  numerals.  Thus 
the  back  of  every  blot-card   bore  a  number  by 


EDUCATIVE  IMAGINATION  87 

which  it  could  be  registered  and  identified.  The 
uncommonly  great  interest  of  the  subjects  in  the 
research  was  largely  due  to  the  great  variety  in 
the  configuration  of  these  blots,  and  to  secure  the 
constant  attentive  effort  of  the  subject  is  often 
no  easy  matter,  although  sometimes  this  means 
half  the  research  done. 

The  subjects  were  mostly  students  in  the  Har- 
vard psychological  laboratory,  although  pro- 
fessors and  their  wives  and  one  Latin-school  girl 
were  among  the  rest.  The  range  of  ages  was 
between  eighteen  and  sixty-two  and  the  average 
nearly  thirty-five.  The  subjects  were  employed 
as  was  convenient,  no  selection  of  any  sort  being 
made,  and  hence  they  may  be  said,  as  far  as  any 
relation  to  imagination  is  concerned,  to  have  been 
an  average  set  from  their  particular  social  grade 
of  culture  and  education.  In  the  case  of  every 
subject  some  brief  sketch  of  his  or  her  early  life 
was  obtained  as  regards  familiarity  with  various 
animal  forms,  and  concerning  fairy  stories,  my- 
thology, and  the  like,  and  as  regards  possible  habit 
of  watching  clouds  and  other  natural  forms  as  a 
pleasure  of  the  imagination.  It  was  expected  that 
subjects  raised  on  a  farm,  hunters,  and  artists 
would  have  a  store  of  advantage  over  those  of 


88  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

contrary  habits.  Among  the  subjects  were  two 
poets  and  two  artists,  and  all  of  these  were  well 
toward  the  top  in  readiness  and  variety  of  re- 
sponse. One  of  these  two  poets  made  the  short- 
est average  of  times,  and  the  subject  who  had  the 
longest  average  is  a  young  man  little  fond  of  verse. 
The  experiments  were  conducted  with  the 
subjects  always  in  normal  condition  as  far  as  could 
be  learned,  and  at  an  average  hour  of  the  day  as 
regards  fatigue  and  meals.  Each  was  particularly 
instructed  "to  look  at  the  blot-card  always 
right-side  up,  turning  neither  the  card  nor  the 
head;  to  try  to  employ  the  whole  character  if 
possible,  not  allowing  it  to  separate  into  parts 
while  being  observed ;  not  to  be  too  particular  to 
get  a  perfectly  fitting  object  in  mind,  but  to  tap 
at  the  moment  of  the  consciousness  of  the  first 
suggested  image;  to  react  by  a  sharp  tap  as 
promptly  as  possible;  to  report  each  concrete 
object  suggested  as  concisely  as  possible,  with  any 
suggested  general  action  of  the  same,  and,  es- 
pecially, only  such  details  as  occurred  before 
reaction  by  the  tap."  The  method  of  the  ex- 
periments was,  then,  simply  thus :  A  set  of  blot- 
cards  being  arranged  in  order  face  down  and  a 
stop-watch   in   hand,   after   a   warning,   Ready ! 


EDUCATIVE  IMAGINATION  89 

one  second  previous,  a  blot  was  quickly  placed 
before  the  subject  at  his  or  her  proper  visual  dis- 
tance. Upon  the  discovery  of  the  blot's  Kkeness 
to  any  object,  the  subject  tapped  and,  the  time 
being  registered,  a  brief  description  of  the  sug- 
gested object  was  recorded  opposite  the  number 
of  the  character;  and  so  on  through  the  entire 
series  of  120,  or,  more  commonly,  until  decrease 
of  interest  or  evident  slowing  of  reaction  indi- 
cated the  beginning  of  fatigue  (which  was  care- 
fully inquired  after  and  noted),  when  the  experi- 
ment was  promptly  suspended  for  the  time. 
None  of  the  subjects  had  seen  the  blots  before  the 
time  of  the  experiment. 

As  would  be  supposed  after  observing  the  dif- 
ferent characters  as  represented  in  the  illustra- 
tion, most  of  the  replies  to  the  general  question, 
What  is  it  ?  were  various  in  the  extreme.  This 
variation  is  least  in  set  number  one,  as  the  blots 
of  that  file  were  selected  and  placed  together  as 
the  first  set,  that  their  relative  easiness  might 
compensate  for  the  novelty  of  the  experience  and 
slowness  of  reaction  in  unprofessional  subjects. 

The  figures  in  the  accompanying  table  indicate 
in  seconds  averages  of  the  times  for  the  ten  blots 
composing  each  set.     In  these  results  the  inter- 


90 


HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 


esting  cases  of  apparent  inhibition  are  included, 
it  being  practically  impossible  to  discriminate 
such  cases  of  exception  from  slow  examples  of 
associative  imagination,  and  no  cases  of  in- 
hibition being  long  or  frequent  enough  to  es- 
sentially vitiate  the  average  of  any  subject. 
These  periods  of  inhibition  have  an  interest  in 
themselves,  for  although  much  like  ordinary  cases 
of  amnesic  aphasia,  they  differ  from  them  in 
that  here  the  blocking  seems  to  be  among  the 


- 

< 

0 

Average  Times,  in  Seconds. 

JECT. 

Av. 

- 
P< 

< 

I 

ii 

in 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 

X 

XI 

XII 

A. 

23 

5.4 

4.6 

4.3 

9.0 

4.3 

7.6 

6.8 

8.2 

6.8 

14.8 

8.5 

7.8 

7.3 

B. 

2* 

5.3 

13.4 

16.1 

4.7 

13.7 

16.2 

6.3 

23.6 

5.3 

31.2 

8.0 

11.3 

12.8 

C. 

21 

6.3 

15.0 

14.2 

8.4 

14.1 

27.5 

15.5 

12.5 

12.4 

8.4 

8.1 

8.6 

12.6 

D. 

24 

3.2 

12.5 

25.1 

10.7 

13.1 

27.8 

30.0 

23.0 

15.4 

4.0 

3.5 

7.9 

14.7 

E. 

22 

5.3 

4.0 

9.6 

9.5 

10.2 

12.4 

19.5 

9.6 

7.3 

12.0 

11.8 

8.9 

10.0 

F. 

30 

18.7 

13.1 

8.8 

4.6 

8.0 

9.5 

8.6 

7.1 

4.5 

8.3 

10.2 

6.1 

8.9 

G. 

27 

6.3 

23.3 

9.8 

6.2 

18.6 

9.4 

10.2 

31.7 

11.5 

19.4 

11.9 

17.6 

14.6 

H. 

till 

16.4 

9.0 

22.4 

11.5 

16.4 

6.2 

7.3 

10.6 

14.9 

16.6 

32.6 

21.6 

15.5 

I. 

30 

25.3 

30.3 

25.3 

17.6 

5.4 

11.8 

21.3 

14.0 

37.1 

13.8 

19.6 

14.0 

20.0 

J. 

is 

12.1 

10.4 

13.7 

13.3 

9.7 

21.9 

27.4 

16.2 

14.1 

15.1 

11.1 

11.7 

15.0 

K. 

2!) 

2.3 

6.7 

6.1 

4.0 

6.3 

8.9 

8.8 

10.7 

7.5 

13.8 

14.6 

14.7 

8.7 

L. 

2!> 

3.S 

1.3 

4.8 

2.9 

2.2 

3.8    4.9 

2.2 

3.3 

5.0 

1.8 

3.4 

3.3 

M. 

62 

1.9 

3.2 

8.2 

2.5 

2.4 

2.5 

2.4 

1.8 

2.1 

1.9 

1.4 

1.6 

2.7 

N. 

61 

2.5 

6.6 

15.7 

5.2 

4.7 

9.2 

2.0 

4.9 

6.4 

10.4 

5.9 

4.6 

6.5 

0. 

39 

6.5 

4.7 

2.1 

3.0 

5.9 

3.3 

5.3 

5.9 

6.7 

7.0 

3.3 

8.2 

5.2 

P. 

34 

5.7 

7.5 

11.6 

3.5 

3.3 

7.0 

14.6 

7.5 

6.5 

7.1 

4.1 

6.2 

7.5 

Grand  Average,  10.3 


EDUCATIVE   IMAGINATION  91 

brain  paths  or  currents  representing  objects  in- 
stead of  among  those  representing  words,  as  is 
the  common  case.  Perhaps  for  a  minute  or  two 
the  subject  would  sit  staring  at  the  blot,  but 
wholly  unable  to  see  any  resemblance  in  it  to  any 
object,  and  this  wholly  independent  of  any  inher- 
ent oddity  of  the  character,  and  of  inattention. 
The  real  nature  of  these  inhibitions  is  a  problem 
for  further  research  to  answer.  If  arising  from 
confusion  or  indecision  between  two  or  more 
resembling  objects,  such  confusion  or  indecision 
was  in  these  cases  wholly  a  sub-conscious  process, 
appearing  to  the  subject  almost  always  merely  as 
a  cessation  of  "mental  activity." 

The  often  considerable  number  of  vacant 
seconds  which  elapsed  between  the  application 
of  the  stimulus  and  the  reaction  image,  offers  a 
striking  illustration  of  the  entire  sub-conscious- 
ness of  the  processes  of  reproductive  imagination, 
but  including  in  these  cases  much  more.  Here 
was  presented  a  blot  of  ink,  perceived  by  the  sub- 
ject; the  next  thing  in  his  consciousness  was  a 
name  of  some  object  resembling  in  some  respect 
or  many  the  stimulus,  so  that  a  complicated 
process  necessarily  intervened.  Many  ancient 
pigeon-holes  of  the  brain  must  have  been  searched, 


92  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

and  a  comparison  made  with  the  contents  of  each, 
followed  by  a  judgment  of  greater  agreement  in 
some  one  case,  a  choice  thereof,  and  the  calling- 
up  and  utterance  of  a  name,  which  again  became 
consciousness.  And  this  often  in  a  fraction  of  a 
second.  Such,  we  may  conjecture,  is  the  general 
process,  although  the  many  attempts  at  intro- 
spection gave  wholly  negative  results.  Frequent 
inquiry  was  made  as  to  how,  in  what  form,  the 
suggested  object  came  into  consciousness,  and 
the  most  frequent  reply  was  that  a  name,  articulate, 
visual,  or  auditory,  was  the  first  of  the  object  ex- 
perienced. Sometimes,  then,  it  was  once  or  twice 
said,  the  connotations  of  the  object  developed. 
In  some  cases  aphasia  occurred  and  a  hazy  like- 
ness of  the  object  coming  hovered  for  a  few 
seconds  or  less  before  the  mind.  Here  is  a  prob- 
lem for  research. 

Instruments  of  precision  for  measuring  small 
periods  of  time  were  not  needed  in  these  experi- 
ments, but  intervals  of  not  over  half  a  second  ap- 
peared in  several  instances,  such  reactions  being 
as  fast  as  regular  time-reactions  with  judgment  or 
choice,  and  much  more  characteristic  of  the  re- 
acting subject  than  of  the  blots  on  which  the 
reaction    occurred.     The    longest  time    required, 


EDUCATIVE   IMAGINATION  93 

three  minutes  very  nearly,  was  by  the  subject 
with  next  to  the  longest  general  time  average 
also;  the  two  next  longest  were  by  two  students 
of  decidedly  "intellectual  type."  Neither  age 
nor  sex  shows  a  distinct  influence  in  these  quan- 
titative results ;  habits  of  living,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  clearly  recorded  in  the  figures  as  confirmed  by 
knowledge  of  the  various  subjects'  mental  modes 
and  occupations.  The  intellectual  type  appears 
in  the  numbers  with  like  corroborative  evidence. 
From  the  grand  average  of  all  the  subjects'  times, 
about  ten  seconds,  it  is  apparent  that  the  reac- 
tions were  slower  than  one  might  a  priori  esti- 
mate from  a  study  of  the  blots.  Facility  de- 
veloped noticeably  in  some  cases.  It  is  curious 
to  observe  that  an  equal  number  of  subjects  were 
above  and  below  the  quantitative  average;  also 
that  the  slowest  and  fastest  were  nearly  an  equal 
number  of  seconds  from  the  mean  time,  which 
thus  doubly  appears  to  be  a  true  average  time  of 
these  1920  reactions.  As  a  comparative  mental 
test,  this  mode  of  experiment  would  seem  to  be 
valuable,  representing  accurately  the  mental 
functions  upon  which  wit  and  mental  liveliness 
depend. 

The   qualitative   portion  of   this   research   has 


94  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

more  of  interest  than  the  quantitative,  howbeit 
its  results  are  not  statable  in  exact  terms  nor 
expressible  in  figures.  The  qualitative  side  better, 
however,  suggests  the  mysteries  of  association  and 
of  the  imagination,  deep  in  the  nervous  substance, 
which  future  psychologists  may  explain.  Each 
subject,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  instructed  to 
report  the  first  object  which  the  blot  suggested  to 
him  in  each  of  the  120  cases.  A  comparison  of 
these  object-images  gives,  therefore,  curious  and 
interesting  results,  and  leads  into  mazes  of  scien- 
tific conjecture. 

In  the  case  of  no  blot  did  over  40  per  cent  of  the 
subjects  agree  on  any  one  suggested  object.  In 
several  instances  no  two  of  the  subjects  were 
reminded  of  the  same  thing.  These  two  extreme 
blots  are  reproduced  in  Figure  1,  the  right  blot, 


XII,  7.  X,  10. 

Figure  1. 

numbered  X,  10,  having  given  the  40  per  cent  of 
agreements,  and  the  other,  XII,  7,  being  one  of 
those  upon  whose  name  no  two  agreed.     Critical 


EDUCATIVE  IMAGINATION 


95 


study  of  their  outlines  gives  only  one  key  to  this 
great  difference  in  difficulty,  namely,  that  the  one 
upon  which  there  was  agreement  strongly  sug- 
gests the  familiar  figure  of  a  man  (with  upturned 
coat  collar). 

From  out  of  the  120  blots  three  have  been 
chosen  here  as  examples  for  a  full  report  of  the 
subjects'  answers,  the  times  being  also  given 
for  greater  completeness.  These  three  char- 
acters are  reproduced  in  Figure  2,  and  their 
respective  descriptions  follow  :  — 


Ill,  l. 

VIII,  10. 

Figure  2. 

in,  i. 

IX, 

4. 

Times. 

Subject. 

Imagined  Object. 

Seconds. 

A. 

Cabbage 

head. 

3. 

B. 

Animal  with  mouth,  open. 

46. 

C. 

Fairy  on  a  cloud. 

11. 

D. 

Woman, 

seated,  basket  of  vegi 

?tables  in 

her  lap.    12. 

E. 

Top  of  an  Indian's  head,  nose 

swollen. 

4. 

F. 

Grotesque  Indian's  head. 

22. 

G. 

Rabbit  sitting  hunched  up. 

16. 

96  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 


H. 

Potted  plant  on  the  ground. 

7.5 

I. 

Rooster  sitting  in  a  bunch  of  vegetables. 

44. 

J. 

Grinning  head  of  a  beast. 

3. 

K. 

Head  of  chicken  with  a  top-knot. 

2. 

L. 

Monstrous  man's  head. 

1.5 

M. 

Flower. 

2.5 

N. 

Cock's  head,  comb  erect. 

4. 

0. 

"Punch." 

1.5 

P. 

Head  of  a  woodcock. 

vm,  io. 

6. 

Times. 

Subject 

\                                   Imagined  Object. 

Seconds. 

A. 

Puritan  scold  about  to  be  ducked, 

9. 

B. 

Woman  extending  her  hand. 

2. 

C. 

Veiled  woman  on  a  stool ;  basket  at  her  feet. 

8. 

D. 

Woman  on  stilts. 

16.7 

E. 

Mermaid  enveloped  in  her  hair. 

6. 

F. 

Fore  part  of  a  grazing  deer. 

3.3 

G. 

Bear. 

4. 

H. 

Man  sitting  on  the  limb  of  a  tree. 

3.8 

I. 

Monkey  on  a  three-legged  stool. 

4.5 

J. 

Dog,  tail  very  straight. 

7. 

K. 

Man  digging. 

3. 

L. 

Girl   in   a   high-chair   throwing 

something 

into 

a  basket. 

1. 

M. 

Chimpanzee. 

4. 

N. 

Old  woman  sitting  on  a  tub  on 

two  legs; 

chil- 

dren  at  right. 

1.3 

0. 

Person  sitting  on  a  person  in  a  chair. 

4. 

P. 

Woman  sitting  on  a  rock. 
IX,  4. 

4.5 

Times. 

Subjegt.                                    Imagined  Object. 

Seconds. 

A. 
B. 

Demon  on  a  beast. 
Monster's  head. 

4. 
16.3 

EDUCATIVE  IMAGINATION  97 

C.  Head  of  an  Arab.  8. 

D.  Running  animal  frisking.  2. 

E.  Girl  in  a  tall  cap,  seated.  4. 

F.  Running  pea-fowl,  head  on  one  side.  6.2 

G.  Chimera.  11.5 
H.  New  style  lady's  bonnet.  70. 
I.  Head  of  some  one-eyed  creature.  33.5 
J.  Bat,  flying.  47.8 
K.  Two  shrimps.  20. 
L.  Child  falling  from  a  tub,  falling  from  overturn- 
ing stool.  2. 

M.  Half  of  a  sweet-pea  bloom.  3.5 

N.  Snake  coiled  around  a  stick.  3. 

O.  Horseshoe-crab.  5. 

P.  Human  head  (left  part  of  blot  only).  21. 

Why  one  subject  should  see  in  a  blot  a  "cab- 
bage head"  and  the  next  an  "animal  with  his 
mouth  open",  or  why  a  professor  should  be  re- 
minded by  a  blot  of  "half  a  sweet  pea  blossom" 
and  his  wife  of  a  "snake  coiled  round  a  stick  ",  of 
course  no  one  can  at  present  pretend  to  explain. 
There  is  a  temptation  in  such  cases  of  association 
as  these  to  call  the  results  the  choice  of  chance, 
but  this  means  too  little  —  or  too  much.  It  is 
clear  that,  as  a  general  principle,  the  experience, 
and  especially  the  early  experience,  of  the  subject 
has  important  influence.  For  example,  study  of 
the  records  shows  that  subject  H.,  a  purely 
domestic  woman,  is  reminded  most  often  of  do- 
mestic objects ;  while  subject  O.,  who  is  an  artist 


98  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

and  student  of  mythology,  sees  in  the  blots  many 
picturesque  and  fanciful  things.  The  difference 
between  the  imaginations  of  the  country  and  city 
bred  is  clear.  Altogether  there  is  evidence  here 
that  the  laws  of  the  reproductive  imagination,  still 
for  the  most  part  hid  in  the  neural  paths,  are  sub- 
stantial laws,  which  may  one  day  be  found  en- 
tirely out  and  reduced  to  words  and  to  more  or  less 
of  mathematical  certainty  of  statement.  Mean- 
while it  is  something  to  establish,  if  possible,  in  a 
manner  unmistakably  demonstrable,  the  empirical 
conditions  under  which  this  "faculty  "  of  mind  per- 
forms its  marvelous  combinations  and  effects,  for 
the  imagination  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  as 
well  as  most  important  phases  of  mentality. 

In  particular  would  it  be  interesting  to  know  to 
what  degree,  if  at  all,  the  fixed  ideas,  delusions, 
and  changed  emotional  conditions  of  what  the 
Germans  conveniently  term  der  Wahn,  influence 
and  subvert  the  reproductive  imaginations  of  the 
persons  who  are  the  victims  of  these  obsessions 
and  delusions,  fixed  into  their  mental  natures 
deep  as  life. 

The  pleasantness  of  this  image-making  phase 
of  the  mind's  process  is  distinct  and  is  not  a  little 


EDUCATIVE   IMAGINATION  99 

of  the  permanent  satisfaction  which  is  part  of  the 
reward  of  the  labor  of  "acquiring  an  education" 
—  an  outworn  and  now  somewhat  misleading 
expression,  but  none  the  less  denotative  of  what 
is  meant  here.  Nothing  more  sharply  marks  off 
the  boor  from  the  gentleman  than  a  lack  of  this 
creative  fancy.  It  should,  then,  be  acquired  for 
its  own  sake,  as  well  as  for  its  educative  usefulness. 

Observe  that  here,  too,  is  distinct  evidence  of 
the  motor  basis  of  a  psychic  function  as  subtle 
even  as  fancy  :  the  suggested  "object"  came  into 
clear  consciousness  most  frequently  as  "a  name, 
articulate,  visual,  or  auditory",  in  short,  always 
a  body-derived  symbol,  a  motor  correlate.  Here 
again  bobs  up  our  skill  so  often  referred  to  in 
these  pages,  the  term  in  itself  a  symbol  of  fine 
neuro-glandulo-muscular  adaptation.  These  im- 
aginings were  relatively  free  associations,  and 
they  certainly  have  an  importance  of  their  own 
in  easy,  as  well  as  in  pleasant,  learning.  Culti- 
vate them,  therefore. 

We  have,  however,  in  addition  to  this,  the 
ability  to  force  the  constructive  imagination,  just 
as  we  have  the  power  strenuously  to  work  out  a 
line  of  thought,  for  example  in  writing  a  "compo- 
sition", an  essay,  or  a  book.     All  real  education  is 


100  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

developed  thus  —  by  the  unrolling  of  intelligence 
out  of  materials  obtained  everywhere  and  all  the 
time,  and  in  all  probability,  mostly  subconsciously. 
We  may  have  much  knowledge  and  even  learning, 
but  not  education  without  this  constructive  pro- 
cess of  imagination.  The  more  conscious  this 
construction,  the  better  and  more  useful  for  the 
student.  When  conscious  this  is  called  thought 
(technically  "ratiocination"),  which  we  shall  de- 
scribe and  apply  later. 

It  is  interesting  to  consider  a  little  more  in 
detail  this  deliberate  constructive  imagination. 
It  is  really  a  very  remarkable  process,  which  we 
well  may  try  to  analyze  as  a  type  of  constructive 
mentation.  There  is  such  a  large  individual  dif- 
ference in  people  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  to 
find  two  who  will  agree  to  the  same  statements 
as  to  the  facts.  But  none  the  less  we  may  take 
for  an  example  a  musical  theme,  or  a  simple  melody 
commonly  called  a  tune;  heard  once,  in  my  own 
case,  this  is  not  recalled,  save  in  the  smallest 
bits,  a  bit  here  or  there  in  attenuated  form.  But 
heard  twice  or  more,  then  three  or  four  days 
elapse  with  total  submergence,  that  is,  nothing  at 
all  being  heard  from  the  melody.  Then,  curi- 
ously enough,  it  begins  to  become  conscious,  now 


EDUCATIVE  IMAGINATION  101 

and  then  a  strain  here  or  there  of  the  air  or  theme. 
If  then  I  hum  or  play  a  few  strains,  the  missing 
parts,  more  or  less  complete,  soon  appear,  but 
gradually  and  in  fragments,  especially  if  I  whistle 
or  play  these  fragments  on  some  instrument. 
Performance  of  some*  kind  is  generally  essential 
to  recall.  We  have  to  push  the  imagination- 
association.  The  process  is  actual  repetition, 
even  to  automaticity,  even  to  triteness.  If  the 
new  tune  is  attractive  (a  complex  quality  psycho- 
logically), there  is  a  distinct  tendency  to  hum  it 
and  sing  it  until  it  gets  more  than  tiresome. 
Obviously  it  has  by  this  time  become  a  real  part 
of  the  effective  mind.  Then,  perhaps  more  or  less 
actively,  it  sinks  into  the  subconscious  aspect  of 
the  mind,  having  been  repeated  until  it  is  posi- 
tively unpleasant  to  have  in  consciousness.  When 
a  tune  has  become  so  familiar  on  a  basis  of  pleas- 
ure, it  tends  thus  to  repeat  itself  even  to  dis- 
missal. It  is  in  this  way  that  the  constructive 
imagination  works. 

This  may  be  employed  as  a  useful  type  of  this 
form  of  imagination  and  from  this  illustration  we 
may  suggest  more  details  adapted  for  the  process 
of  learning.  Let  us  analyze  a  little  more  fully 
what  has  taken  place  in  this  common  experience 


102  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

of  learning  (by  the  constructive  imagination) 
an  ordinary  sequence  of  musical  tones.  We 
find  six  more  or  less  obvious  but  yet  arbitrarily 
chosen  elements  in  this  process.  First,  there  is  an 
impression  on  the  mind,  which  is  subconscious 
therein,  or  in  the  nervous  system,  as  we  may 
state  it.  Second,  we  find  a  process  of  uncon- 
scious integration,  in  which  period  (several  days 
in  the  case  used  as  an  illustration)  there  is  no 
awareness  whatever  of  the  integrative  process 
that  is  going  on.  Third,  there  is  a  fragmentary 
flotation  into  consciousness  and  the  fragments  are 
then  made  more  conspicuous  by  action,  and  by 
repetition.  Fourth,  there  is  a  process  of  conscious 
integration  by  effort;  this  is  by  far  more  ef- 
fective if  it  be  helped  by  motor  performance  such 
as  humming,  singing,  playing  the  tune  on  some 
instrument,  or  whistling.  Fifth,  there  is  a  stage 
of  conscious  familiarity  or  even  of  over-familiarity. 
And  sixth,  there  is  a  real  mental  submersion,  the 
melody  being  present  then  as  real  knowledge. 

Now  I  take  it  that  all  matters  of  knowledge, 
all  acquirement  occurs  more  or  less  in  this  same 
way,  whether  the  precise  learning  be  that  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America,  or 
a  list  of  the  Presidents  and  their  life-data,  or  the 


EDUCATIVE   IMAGINATION  103 

irregular  French  verbs,  or  the  rule  for  finding  the 
cube-root,  or  the  provoking  and  absurd  "rules" 
(seldom  followed)  of  Latin  grammar,  or  a  set  of 
propositions  in  geometry,  or  the  physiology  of  the 
regulation  of  the  body-heat,  or  the  geologic  periods, 
or  the  theories  of  heredity,  or  what  not.  The 
process  always  seems  to  be  in  some  degree  the 
same  as  in  the  impression  and  recollection  of  a 
new  melody.  Let  us  work  it  out  practically  for 
our  immediate  purpose  :  — 

The  material  to  be  learned  is  read  through  once 
or  twice,  but,  being  relatively  difficult,  is  not  con- 
sciously learned.  The  practical  point  here,  is 
the  importance  of  concentrated  attention  on  the 
more  difficult  and  arbitrary  material  in  a  subject 
of  study,  in  order  to  impress  the  brain  all  the 
more  vigorously.  Retention  would  often  be  aided 
too,  as  has  been  said,  by  doing  this  study  with 
some  emotional  tone,  preferably  one  of  great  de- 
termination or  of  enthusiasm,  even  anger;  but 
not  worry,  a  form  of  fear. 

The  mind,  finding  the  material  consonant  and 
its  acquisition  expedient,  works  it  over,  not  only 
within  itself  but  more  or  less  also  with  the  former 
contents  of  the  mind.  The  practical  "moral" 
of  this  interval  is  obvious :  —  the  value  of  review, 


104  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

which  reinforces  the  impression  on  the  brain. 
Another  moral  is  peace  of  mind  and  absence  of 
worry,  —  implying  implicit  trust  in  the  sub- 
conscious fusion-process  of  the  mind. 

Fragments  here  and  there  float  into  conscious- 
ness, so  that  we  are  reminded  that  the  mind  is 
working  on  them,  and  thus  is  kept  at  it.  We 
should  learn  to  attend  to  our  "subconscious",  our 
"oversoul." 

At  the  next  attempt  at  learning  (whether  it  be 
a  few  hours  away  or  a  few  days),  effort  is  used, 
what  we  call  conscious  study,  and  we  find  in- 
tegration easier  than  before.  Going  over  the  same 
material  to  be  learned,  after  a  few  days,  de- 
liberately and  carefully  once  or  twice,  lends 
confidence  in  the  mind  by  showing  that  processes 
are  helping  which  are  unknown  to  the  student  at 
the  time. 

The  stint  is  then  learned  and  we  are  conscious 
of  the  fact.  Here  work,  and  especially  motor 
expression  —  work  on  the  material,  is  very  pro- 
ductive, making  it  thus  thoroughly  familiar  by 
the  instinctive  pleasure  of  creation,  of  learning, 
and  on  the  physiologic  principles  of  imitation  and 
of  habituation.  The  importance  of  working  over 
the  material  in  some  motor  way  (usually  writing  it 


EDUCATIVE   IMAGINATION  105 

or  talking  it  to  some  one,  if  it  be  only  to  ourselves) 
comes  out  here ;  also  the  importance  of  repetition. 

The  material  is  then  "forgotten",  or  so-called 
forgotten ;  but  in  reality  it  is  truly  learned  and 
is  in  the  mind  in  the  best  possible  form  for  use  as 
required,  or  when  by  chance  the  association-cue 
is  given. 

Such  are  some  of  the  practical  hints  toward 
easy  learning  which  may  be  suggested  even  in  a 
process  as  abstract  as  the  constructive  imagi- 
nation. The  reader  can  do  similarly  for  other 
learning-processes,  but  this  or  something  similar 
is  the  standard  modus  operandi  of  the  learning 
mind,  at  least  when  working  on  all  series  of  difficult 
facts  and  principles.  The  less  arbitrary  and  more 
interesting  the  material,  the  easier  this  mental 
process  is  and  the  simpler,  although  the  same  in 
principle.  This  is  the  process  sometimes  known 
as  the  association  of  ideas,  and  we  may  try  to 
analyze  it  a  little  better  in  the  light  of  the  actual 
association  of  the  actual  tune  offered  as  a  type. 

A  practical  point  may  be  noted  here.  If  the 
desired  thought  or  relation  or  whatever  else  be 
the  kind  of  associational  process  desired  cannot 
be  produced  by  a  few  minutes  of  really  con- 
centrated effort,  it  is  not  scientific  to  try  further 


106  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

at  that  time  without  a  break  in  the  mental  effort. 
We  should  rather  await  a  brain  refreshed  by  a 
little  rest  and  helped  by  the  subconscious  in- 
tegrative actions  that  are  pretty  sure  to  be  set 
going  by  the  conscious  effort  already  made. 
When  the  problem  is  taken  up  consciously  again, 
later  in  the  hour  or  the  day  or  the  week,  the  chance 
of  success,  other  things  equal,  will  be  much  im- 
proved and  that  without  risk  of  uneconomical 
fatigue.  Moreover,  there  is  in  this  constructive 
learning  such  a  thing  as  absolute  block  of  the 
will,  —  else  of  course  there  would  not  be  the  em- 
pirical, definite  limitation  of  ingenuity  and  in- 
vention. I  recall  an  instance  in  which  William 
James,  master  in  constructive  thought,  showed 
just  this  phenomenon  before  a  small  class  in 
philosophy,  —  he  said,  after  a  minute  or  two 
of  strenuous  effort,  that  he  had  tried  repeatedly 
to  work  out  that  particular  thought,  but  that 
he  could  not  advance  his  construction  beyond  a 
certain  relatively  incomplete  stage. 

Imagination  of  the  thinking  kind  tends  to 
make  ideas  more  "massive"  and  so  more  edu- 
cative. Massiveness  makes  them  easier  to  real- 
ize in  their  actual  meaning ;  in  this  case  more 
imaginable. 


EDUCATIVE  IMAGINATION  107 

The  next  topic  in  regard  to  constructive  imag- 
ination is  the  matter  of  complexes  of  mental  units. 
Knowledge  in  some  way  is  in  the  mind  in  the  form 
of  mental  integrations.  Morton  Prince  terms 
these  "dormant  ideas",  but  obviously  units  in 
some  sense  or  other  although  not  yet  clear  to 
physiology.  These  mental  units  have  dynamic 
relations  which  they  and  the  nerve-energy  have 
in  common,  so  that  "ideas",  especially  when  col- 
ored by  a  definite  feeling-tone,  have  an  inherent 
impulse  to  interaction. 

Therefore  an  effort  should  be  made  by  the 
student  in  all  ways  to  make  these  complexes, 
(1)  as  numerous;  (2)  as  complex;  (3)  as  active; 
(4)  as  permanent;  and  (5)  as  generally  useful,  as 
possible.  The  process  of  so  making  them  is  effort, 
and  is  at  once  imagination,  thought,  association, 
and  remembering  combined.  Now,  (1)  we  can 
make  these  complexes  of  the  mind,  these  dormant 
ideas  or  units  of  mental  process,  more  numerous 
by  reading,  talking,  by  taking  notes,  by  obser- 
vation, by  thinking;  in  short  by  all  the  common 
modes  of  acquiring  new  concepts  or  ideas,  or  by 
expressing  them. 

(2)  We  can  make  them  more  complex  by  prac- 
tically the  same  means. 


108  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

(3)  We  can  make  them  more  active  (a)  by  includ- 
ing in  the  complex  an  emotion  or  a  feeling.  These 
constructive  complexes  in  the  mind  may  be  made 
more  active  also  by  (b)  developing  interest,  in- 
stinctive or  personal,  and  (c)  by  association  with 
material  which  already  has  interest  or  emotional 
tone  for  us.  William  James  has  emphasized  this 
last  essential  fact  in  his  "Talks  with  Teachers." 
He  says  that  "any  object  not  interesting  in 
itself,  may  become  interesting  through  becoming 
associated  with  an  object  in  which  an  interest 
already  exists."  It  was  likewise  found  by  Pavlov 
and  more  recently  by  Watson  at  Johns  Hopkins 
University  (as  discussed  in  the  previous  chapter) 
that  there  is  no  assignable  limit  to  the  arbitrari- 
ness of  the  association  that  may  be  "artificially" 
made  in  the  nervous  system.  Nerve-surgery 
suggests  precisely  the  same  thing,  for,  as  has  been 
often  shown  in  practice,  a  cut  sensory  nerve  may 
be  sutured  even  to  a  motor  nerve  stump  and  the 
sensory  function  sometimes  return  in  all  its 
essential  completeness.  There  seems  to  be  no 
end  to  the  power  of  association  or  of  adaptation 
possible  in  the  nervous  system,  especially  in  its 
more  liquid  gray-matter. 

(4)  Permanency  of  the  mental  units  or  com- 


EDUCATIVE   IMAGINATION  109 

plexes  may  be  reached  best  by  way  of  (a)  emo- 
tional tone;  (b)  by  the  richness  of  the  recorded 
relationships ;  (c)  by  the  intensity  of  the  personal 
attention  when  the  perception  first  takes  place ; 
and  (d)  by  the  frequency  of  review ;  these  among 
other  means. 

(5)  The  utility  of  the  mental  complexes  or 
units  is  reached  automatically  by  the  mere  avoid- 
ance of  thoughts  and  the  like  of  the  Scholastic 
type,  problems  and  theories  which  have  no 
deeper  reality  or  basis  in  fact  than  the  chance 
relationships  of  pure  ideas,  which  often  in  reality 
are  only  verbal  quibbles.  For  the  most  part,  we 
should  think  of  and  discuss  real  problems  with 
some  really  human  applications,  —  and  with  some 
really  human  man  or  woman,  too. 

Originality,  ingenuity,  grace,  skill  are  terms  for 
various  phases  of  the  productive  and  efficient 
constructive  imagination.  A  man  or  woman  who 
lacks  these  is  not  educated.  Skill,  as  we  saw  in 
the  previous  chapter,  is  a  kind  of  potential  imag- 
ination. We  may  suggest  a  working  rule  for 
becoming  able  in  this  line  of  constructive  imag- 
ination, even  if  it  be  in  almost  slang  terms : 
Get  posted;  get  energetic;  get  interested;  get  busy; 
and  TRY.     And  keep  on  trying.     In  any  intelli- 


110  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

gent  mind  trying  develops  its  own  personal 
method,  and  we  cannot  be  told  how  to  improve 
these  methods  in  the  subconscious  mind.  Habit 
makes  it  easier  and  easier  to  remember,  and 
more  and  more  productive  as  well  as  easier. 
Constructing  and  the  general  use  of  the  con- 
structive imagination  becomes  after  a  while  in 
itself  (something  too  of  delight  which  we  always 
have  ready  at  hand)  a  vast  pleasure  and  delight. 
Not  only  in  ideation  but  in  feeling  and  willing, 
is  the  mental  activity  worth  cultivation  for  its 
own  sake,  and  like  virtue  and  beauty  it  is  its  own 
reward. 

Feeling-imagination  lends  emotional  tone  to 
the  mental  process  and  so  gives  it  delight,  or  at 
least  satisfaction,  as  well  as  power.  This  may 
be  seen  readily  in  poetry  and  in  music.  We  have 
discussed  already  the  stheneuphoric  index.  It 
means  simply  that  we  expend  more  energy  in 
doing  things  which  we  enjoy  doing  than  in  those 
which  are  unpleasant  to  us.  The  practical  im- 
portance of  this  matter  is  our  excuse  for  its  fre- 
quent mention. 

Imagination  is  at  once  a  most  practicable  and 
a  most  valuable  educative  process.  Invention 
and   scientific   research    would   be   unproductive 


EDUCATIVE   IMAGINATION  111 

without  it.  One  of  the  greatest  pathologists  of 
recent  times,  Paul  Ehrlich,  "discoverer"  of  Sal- 
varsan,  spoke  of  his  chemical  imagination  as 
his  "greatest  asset."  Here  some  of  my  readers 
may  suggest  to  themselves  that  the  use  of  the 
imagination  leads  to  what  has  been  once  and 
forever  abandoned  out  of  science  and  education 
as  the  deductive  method.  But  the  use  of  the 
constructive  imagination  is  not  "deduction",  not 
a  fitting  of  science  to  belief  or  to  dogma  or  to  mere 
opinion,  but  is  rather  an  elaborate  case  of  the 
sound  and  biologic  method  of  trial  and  error. 
In  using  scientifically  one's  imagination,  con- 
structing a  theory,  we  first  sees  if  it  fits.  If  not, 
we  must  be  willing  to  throw  it  aside  frankly  and 
promptly;  the  only  danger  lies  in  obstinacy. 
Examples  are  innumerable  of  the  great  produc- 
tiveness of  this  common  method  of  trial  and 
error.  The  indispensable  employment  of  imag- 
ination is  shown  in  the  planning  of  the  Atlantic 
cable,  the  telegraph,  the  wireless,  the  telephone, 
the  electric  light,  submarines ;  these  and  many 
others  could  not  have  come  into  existence  without 
a  preliminary  activity  of  creative  imagination. 
Theories,  hypotheses,  philosophies,  are  all  im- 
possible without  it.     Imagination  is  at  once  more 


112  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

useful  and  more  used  than  is  commonly  con- 
sidered in  educational  theory.  No  knowledge 
can  be  made  our  very  own  without  this  creative 
process,  often  called  "assimilation"  to  the  con- 
tents of  the  mind.  Summarizing,  reviewing,  and 
abstracting  is  a  practical  and  mechanical  process 
of  using  the  constructive  imagination.  Better 
still  in  the  process  of  using  our  memory  to  the 
best  advantage  is  thought,  thinking  things  over 
that  we  have  just  learned ;  there  can  be  no  true 
education  without  the  essentials  of  this  process, 
for  it  means  self-reliance,  independence,  even 
manhood  and  womanhood.  Thought  over  a 
study-topic  tends,  by  association,  to  go  beyond 
the  original  limits  of  the  assignment  as  learned ; 
and  this  is  pure  imagination.  Thus  it  becomes 
the  basis  of  initiative,  of  ingenuity,  and  of  orig- 
inality, of  all  true  creation. 

The  creation  of  diagrams  and  illustrations  is  using 
the  imagination  to  a  great  advantage;  and  the 
process  is  art  in  the  making. 

The  constructive  imagination  may  be  aided  in 
fact  and  consciously  and  deliberately  developed 
by  many  proper  means.  In  childhood  it  may  be 
developed  by  the  reading  or  hearing  of  fairy  stories ; 
"Swiss  Family  Robinson,"  and  all  such  books; 


EDUCATIVE   IMAGINATION  113 

later  on  by  the  reading  of  books  as  "The  Fairy 
Land  of  Science,"  Thomson's  "Wonder  of  Life," 
histories  of  discoveries,  Sir  Oliver  Lodge's  presi- 
dential address  on  continuity,  the  novels  of  Jules 
Verne  and  H.  G.  Wells ;  by  talking  with  fanciful 
and  imaginative  persons ;  and  often  by  an  active 
process  of  deliberate  revery. 

Another  mode  by  which  the  creative  imagination 
may  be  developed  is  the  enlargement  of  our  vo- 
cabulary, our  list  of  words  and  the  habitual  use  of 
these  idea-handles  in  writing.  New  terms  lead 
to  new  associations.  In  general,  as  we  shall  see, 
the  dictionary  is  not  used  nearly  so  much  as  it 
should  be  for  easy  learning;  its  disuse  is  largely 
due  to  muscular  laziness,  not  to  mental  indif- 
ference. 

The  third  kind  of  imagination  which  we  men- 
tioned was  the  organic  imagination.  This  may 
be  termed  the  influence  of  the  mind  over  the 
body,  suggestion,  and  this  is  a  very  familiar  word 
to  all  nowadays.  Suggestion  and  its  similars 
are  strong  and  important  processes  in  education. 
Ordinarily  our  interests  are  unrealized  and  our 
best  capabilities  wholly  unknown.  Millions  of 
indigent  and  neglected  children  are  thus  handi- 
capped.    The  playgrounds,  camps,  and  the  like 


114  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

develop  this  knowledge,  or  at  least  show  how  to 
do  so.  The  basis  of  organic  imagination  is  strictly 
a  physiologic  process,  and  I  state  each  year  with 
more  and  more  emphasis,  the  result  of  much  ob- 
servation direct  and  otherwise,  that  there  is  no 
assignable  limit  to  the  voluntary  control  of  the  body. 
This  matter  may  be  extended  to  the  intellectual 
subjects  of  education  as  well  as  to  bodily  education 
proper. 

Ideas  that  are  inherently  meaningful  in  human 
reason ;  or  that  are  massive,  full  of  detail  (for 
example,  laboratory  work  and  direct  observation) ; 
or  that  are  especially  striking  because  of  con- 
trast-effects or  from  other  conditions,  exert  the 
most  suggestive  influence  and  are  thus  the  richest 
educationally  and  stimulate  the  imagination  most. 
None  the  less,  the  use  of  the  organic  imagination 
is  perhaps  more  hygienic  and  ethical  than  nar- 
rowly educative.  But  this,  too,  is  education,  how 
to  be  well  and  how  to  be  happy.  This  invaluable 
part  of  learning,  the  organic  imagination,  however 
practically  valuable,  we  must  almost  ignore 
here.  But  all  the  Why  Worry  books,  and  the 
New  Thought,  and  Christian  Science,  all  the 
mind-cures  and  some  of  the  really  scientific 
psycho-therapeutics,     are    applications    of     the 


EDUCATIVE  IMAGINATION  115 

organizing  of  the  organic  imagination.  This  is 
emotional  suggestion  which  is  of  much  value  to 
easy  learning.1 

1  See  G.  V.  N.  Dearborn,  "The  Influence  of  Joy."     Little,  Brown, 
and  Company.     1916. 


CHAPTER  IV 
BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE  USE 

Many  wise  minds  have  written  volumes  and 
multitudes  of  wise  essays  on  books  and  their 
use.  For  such  learning  we  may  refer  directly  to 
Bacon,  Montaigne,  Carfyle,  Emerson,  and  the 
rest  —  at  hand  everywhere.  But  I  wish  to  sug- 
gest, in  connection  with  this  matter  of  learning, 
that  the  choice  of  books,  both  of  textbooks  in- 
directly and  of  other  kinds  more  directly,  is  a 
test,  in  itself,  and  a  criterion  in  a  way  of  our  like- 
lihood of  becoming  well  educated  —  of  our  gen- 
eral educability.  Nothing  gets  our  range  more 
quickly  than  our  choice  and  use  of  books.  Mil- 
lionaires sometimes  furnish  the  library  of  a  new 
home  with  books  bought  by  the  linear  shelf- 
yard  and,  next  to  their  space,  think  most  of 
their  bindings.  But,  as  they,  perhaps,  finally 
realize,  there  is  no  known  subtle  influence  passing 
from  an  idea  printed  in  a  paragraph  of  a  book  to 
the  subconscious  mind  of  a  near-by  person  how- 

116 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE  USE     117 

ever  great  may  be  his  desire  to  learn,  or  how- 
ever closely  surrounded  with  such  printed  symbols 
of  ideas  he  may  be ! 

The  transfer  from  the  printed  page  to  the  cortex 
of  the  brain  means  long  and  continuous  labor, 
years  of  it,  unnumbered  days  and  nights  of  it. 
There  cannot  be  a  rule  for  the  actual  study  of  all 
books.  Some  books  require  concentrated  atten- 
tion for  their  mastery,  and  some  do  not.  Some 
call  for  thoughtful  revery  running  along  with 
their  reading,  and  some  demand  concentrated 
attention  to  the  books'  ideas  themselves,  if  the 
reader  would  become  really  learned. 

The  amount  of  time  actually  spent  on  some 
lessons  in  seventy-five  classes  in  the  University 
of  Iowa  has  been  reported  by  Professor  Irving 
King  ("School  and  Society",  December  4,  1915). 
Of  the  2567  students  who  answered  the  questions 
of  the  investigator  about  61  per  cent  used  one  and 
a  half  hours  or  less  on  the  particular  lesson  as- 
signments from  which  the  statistics  were  made. 
Eight  per  cent  used  one  half  hour  or  less,  and  5 
per  cent  three  hours  or  more.  If  we  may  take 
these  figures  as  average  values  (and  they  are  the 
only  available  data  at  present  and  as  far  as  they 
go  surely  wholly  reliable)  we  can  judge  fairly  well 


118  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

for  ourselves  whether  or  not  we  are  doing  our- 
selves, our  time,  and  our  money  justice  in  the 
effort  we  habitually  put  forth  in  reading  or  in 
studying  lessons.  If  we  are  assigning  ourselves 
lessons,  we  can  judge  roughly  from  these  aver- 
ages whether  they  are  of  average  traditional 
length  and  properly  used.  The  concentration  of 
the  attention  is  far  more  important  to  easy  learn- 
ing than  is  the  length  of  its  continuous  appli- 
cation. Here  in  the  most  certain  way  is  quality 
far  more  than  quantity.  Thus  Professor  King's 
statistics  are  more  suggestive  than  really  sig- 
nificant for  any  one  student.  In  any  one  re- 
ported case  it  might  have  been  that  the  student 
concentrated  and  learned  not  only  faster  but 
better  (as  we  shall  see  shortly)  than  another 
who  misused  six-fold  as  much  time.  Still,  this 
factor  would  seem  to  be  averaged  as  much  as  the 
others  and  we  need  not  suppose  that  it  would 
harm  the  validity  of  the  results.  As  a  practical 
point  they  suggest  that  one-and-a-half  hours  is 
'plenty  long  enough  for  most  students  to  spend  on  a 
lesson.  If  either  too  little  or  too  much  this  period 
is  more  likely  the  latter,  according  to  modern 
physiologic  ideas. 

Despite  the  necessity  of  "keeping  everlastingly 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE  USE     119 

at  it"  if  one  would  become  really  learned,  and 
the  consequent  need  of  using  time  to  the  best 
advantage,  (to  the  really  best  advantage)  there 
is  small  profit  or  none  at  all  in  carrying  books 
about  in  the  pocket  and  in  the  school  bag,  as  we 
see  many  people  do,  for  reading  on  the  steam  cars, 
street  cars,  and  in  other  public  places.  Of  course 
in  general  this  is  pure  affectation.  Any  one  who 
does  it  out  of  a  serious  intention  of  making  the 
most  of  his  time  is  doing  so  on  a  real  misunder- 
standing, for  usually  the  time  is  far  too  much 
broken  to  allow  any  adequate  learning-com- 
pensation for  the  loss  of  rest  of  the  eyes  and 
brain,  and  the  loss  of  observation  during  travel, 
even  though  it  be  only  downtown.  Every  man, 
woman,  or  child  sitting  across  the  aisle,  every 
intelligent  horse  or  dog  in  sight,  is  a  "book"  for 
study  better,  under  such  circumstances,  than 
most  bookbinders  have  ever  put  together.  There- 
fore it  is  idle  to  try  to  get  knowledge  out  of  books 
in  a  haphazard  way,  in  distracted  periods,  each 
lasting  only  a  very  short  time.  "One  thing  at  a 
time  and  that  done  well,"  and  in  this  case  only 
with  full  attention !  In  general  the  time  to  read 
is  when  we  are  alone,  at  least  in  quiet,  for  then 
with  economy  we  can  really  make  the  required 


120  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

book-cortex  translation  and  transfer,  and  let  the 
cortical  neurones  rustle  unafraid. 

For  our  present  purpose  we  may  make  two 
classes  of  books :  textbooks  and  books  which  are 
usable  in  this  way,  and  others. 

Textbooks  are  for  direct,  detailed  study;  that 
is  their  purpose.  A  good  textbook  contains  the 
important  facts  and  principles  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  essential  information  of  the  subject 
on  which  it  treats.  A  textbook,  as  compared 
with  other  books,  is  very  concentrated  mind 
food,  while  the  other  books  are  usually  not  con- 
centrated. 

Real  familiarity  icith  full  and  authoritative 
textbooks  is  the  backbone  of  educational  information 
and  understanding.  Textbooks  are  our  "old  re- 
liable" means  of  learning.  This  can  be  scarcely 
too  much  emphasized  in  these  days  of  many  social 
lectures  and  of  other  fashionable  modes  of  pre- 
tended learning.  The  intensive  use  of  books  is 
based  upon  the  substantial,  old-fashioned  reci- 
tation, and  as  we  shall  see  a  student  can  be  very 
successful  in  reciting  to  himself.  Relatively  few 
students  adequately  realize  the  importance  in 
the  learning-mill  of  competent  textbooks  properly 
used. 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE   USE     121 

For  practical  purposes  it  is  advisable  to  con- 
sider the  essential  dynamic  relationship  between 
the  four  obvious  elements  of  the  problem  of  learn- 
ing from  books  by  the  intensive  study  of  them. 
These  four  elements  we  may  denote  as  follows : 
—  (1)  the  adequate  textbook  itself.  (2)  The  real 
desire  to  learn  its  facts  and  its  wisdom.  (3)  The 
forced  and  attentive  study  under  the  requisite 
pressure,  great  or  small.  (4)  The  transfer  to  the 
brain,  and  the  associative  process  of  interweaving 
with  the  knowledge  and  the  wisdom  already 
there.  Of  course  there  is  every  grade  of  learning- 
effort.  When  the  effort  based  on  interest  is  at 
its  strongest,  the  outlines  and  some  details  of  a 
whole  new  subject  may  be  fixed  in  the  mind  in  a 
few  weeks  or  even  in  a  few  days.  That  is  to  say, 
this  may  readily  be  accomplished  by  a  person  who 
knows  how  to  study,  how  especially  to  control  his 
muscles  and  so  to  force  his  voluntary  attention 
along  the  desired  and,  therefore,  the  interesting 
line  of  work.  Obviously  we  are  back  again  to 
generalized  skill,  the  universal  personal  control 
over  at  least  the  voluntary  muscles.  It  is  some- 
times actually  surprising  to  observe  how  much  of 
a  new  subject  an  active,  vigorous  boy  or  girl  or 
an  eager,  hurried  man  can  learn  in  a  short  time. 


122  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

This  "cramming",  I  suspect,  is  done  in  schools 
even  much  more  than  most  teachers  realize.  Many 
students  everywhere  almost  entirely  neglect  study 
day  by  day  and  then  by  a  dynamogenic  spurt 
learn  the  whole  subject,  and  sometimes  adequately, 
and  now  and  then  even  permanently,  within  a 
week  or  so,  or  even  a  few  days.  In  order  to  ac- 
complish this,  they  have  to  have  this  training- 
control  of  mind,  which  is  really  a  training  of  the 
body.  But  a  student  who  lacks  this  knowledge 
of  how  to  study,  how  to  steadily  force  his  mind 
for  repeated  effective  periods  along  hard,  because 
definite,  directions,  cannot  accomplish  such  in- 
tensive acquirement  either  soon  or  easily.  Such 
students  (and  the  great  majority  of  learners  are 
of  this  latter  type)  must  first  learn  how  to  study  in 
this  way;  or  else  use  the  ordinary  traditional 
method  for  average  students  such  as  the  average 
school  everywhere  provides  ! 

Here  we  are  considering  the  use  of  textbooks  by 
a  student  who  knows  how  to  make  the  most  of 
them.  This  dynamogenic  process  (the  word's 
meaning  is  obvious)  is  a  pleasure  as  well  as  a 
necessity,  and  is  widely  open  to  all.  But  few  in- 
deed realize  that  they  possess  this  all-important 
power  of  rapid  and  easy  learning  from  textbooks, 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE  USE     123 

of  transferring  the  textbooks  almost  bodily  and 
in  a  short  time  and  for  good,  into  their  minds  by 
way  of  their  brains.  The  organism,  body  and 
mind,  has  to  be  trained  to  it.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  may  soon  train  ourselves  once  for  all  simply 
by  doing  this  :  Forcing  the  issue  with  all  our  mighty 
and  by  repetition  making  it  a  habit.  This  we 
may  call  the  intensive  use  of  books.  Probably 
in  the  long  run  this  is  not  very  economical  for  the 
most  of  us,  for  "it  takes  a  bit  out"  of  us.  It  is 
not  what  we  can  do,  but  what  we  can  do  econom- 
ically that  interests  us  in  education.  It  is  im- 
portant, however,  to  us  all  to  know  how  much  we 
can  do  in  emergency ;  and  to  know  the  mechanism 
thereof  in  part  at  least :  a  new  chapter  in  educa- 
tional science  as  well  as  in  psychology  and  physi- 
ology. 

Professor  W.  B.  Cannon  and  his  associates  in 
the  laboratory  of  physiology  of  the  Harvard 
Medical  School  have  recently  worked  out  further 
details  of  the  relations  of  emotional  excitement  to 
energy-expense  in  a  way  useful  for  our  present 
purpose  of  learning  how  to  study.  Doctor  Can- 
non says:  "The  close  relation  between  emotion 
and  muscular  action  has  long  been  perceived. 
As  Sherrington  has  pointed  out,  Emotion  '  moves " 


124  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

us,  hence  the  word  itself.  If  developed  in  inten- 
sity, it  impels  toward  vigorous  movement.  Every 
vigorous  movement  of  the  body  .  .  .  involves  also 
the  less  noticeable  cooperation  of  the  viscera, 
especially  of  the  circulatory  and  the  respiratory. 
The  extra  demand  made  upon  the  muscles  that 
move  the  frame  involves  a  heightened  action  of 
the  nutrient  organs  which  supply  to  the  muscles 
the  material  for  their  energy !  The  researches  here 
reported  have  revealed  a  number  of  unsuspected 
ways  in  which  muscular  action  is  made  more 
efficient  because  of  emotional  disturbances  of  the 
viscera.  Every  one  of  the  visceral  changes  that 
have  been  noted  —  the  cessation  of  processes  in 
the  alimentary  canal  (thus  freeing  the  energy 
supply  for  other  parts) ;  the  shifting  of  blood 
from  the  abdominal  organs,  whose  activities  are 
deferable,  to  the  organs  immediately  essential  to 
muscular  exertion  (the  lungs,  the  heart,  the  cen- 
tral nervous  system) ;  the  increased  vigor  of  con- 
traction of  the  heart;  the  quick  abolition  of  the 
effects  of  muscular  fatigue;  the  mobilizing  of 
energy-giving  sugar  in  the  circulation ;  [an  in- 
creased coagulability  of  the  blood ;  and  the  di- 
lation of  the  bronchioles,  both  demonstrated  by 
Cannon]  —  every  one  of  these  visceral  changes  is 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE   USE     125 

directly  serviceable  in  making  the  organism  more 
effective  in  the  violent  display  of  energy  which  fear 
or  rage  or  pain  involve." 

Now  this  "forcing  the  issue"  through  a  book  in 
contest  with  one's  natural  inertia,  not  to  say 
frankly  and  truly  oftentimes  with  one's  natural 
or  abnormal  laziness,  also  comes  to  be  explained. 
This  firm  and  warm  and  vigorous  determination 
to  learn  as  fast  as  possible  undoubtedly  employs, 
and  gets  its  often  perfect  success  from,  just  these 
same  dynamogenic  processes.  The  bodily  changes 
here  would  be  less  conspicuous  than  in  acute 
rage  or  fear,  but  no  psychologist  can  doubt  that 
just  the  same  they  are  also  in  action.  (The  same 
is  true  in  other  cases,  notably  worry,  only  that 
here  fear  acts  to  depress,  as  is  its  wont,  rather 
than  to  stimulate.) 

This  "learning  against  time"  has  been  studied 
carefully  by  Doctor  G.  C.  Myers  of  the  Brooklyn 
Training  School  for  Teachers.  The  work  tested 
was  the  learning  of  a  list  of  unrelated  words; 
twenty-six  normal-school  girls  were  given  the 
task,  thirteen  having  all  the  time  they  wished  to 
use  and  thirteen  being  required  to  do  the  "stunt" 
in  nine  minutes.  "Ten  of  the  twenty-four," 
says  Professor  Myers,  "made  perfect  records,  and 


126  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

the  imperfect  records  were,  on  the  whole,  about 
as  good  as  those  of  the  first  group.  This  means 
that  when  the  subjects  knew  they  had  only  a 
limited  time  in  which  to  do  the  task,  almost  half 
made  perfect  records  in  the  time  in  which  a  per- 
fect record  was  made  by  one  of  the  first  group, 
working  without  a  time-limit.  Furthermore,  one 
does  not  know  how  many  of  the  ten  could  have 
done  the  task  in  a  shorter  time  than  the  nine 
minutes  given.  In  addition,  these  ten  out  of 
twenty-four  made  perfect  records  in  five  minutes 
less  time  than  the  average  time  required  by  the 
nine  who  made  perfect  records  in  the  first  test. 
Moreover,  the  second  group,  though  belonging 
to  the  same  class,  was  a  little  inferior  to  the  first 
in  scholastic  averages."  These  results  by  them- 
selves certainly  make  out  a  strong  argument  — 
everywhere  in  general  corroborated  by  experience 
—  for  the  advantage  of  intensive  effort  in  learning 
and  in  doing. 

Professor  Woodworth,  of  Columbia  University 
summarized  this  question  as  follows  : x  — 

"The  contradictory  results  obtained  according  as 
retention  is  measured  by  the  saving  in  re-learning  or  by 
the  amount  recalled  make  it  desirable  to  introduce 

1  A  paper  read  before  the  American  Psychological  Association  in 
December,  1913. 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE  USE     127 

further  variations  into  the  study  of  the  above  question. 
One  variation  consists  in  avoiding  the  matter  of  individ- 
ual differences,  and  examining  the  learning  and  reten- 
tion of  single  associations  by  the  same  individual.  In 
one  of  the  experiments  reported,  an  Italian-English 
vocabulary  of  twenty  pairs  of  words  was  to  be  learned 
from  auditory  presentation.  After  one  reading,  the 
experimenter  gave  the  Italian  words  as  stimuli, 
allowing  three  to  five  seconds  for  each  response,  prompt- 
ing and  correcting,  and  so  continuing  till  each  correct 
response  had  been  given  once.  Overlearning  was 
avoided  by  dropping  each  pair  from  the  list  as  soon  as  it 
was  learned ;  but  after  all  the  responses  had  been  cor- 
rectly given,  the  experimenter  read  the  whole  list 
through  once  more.  After  an  interval  of  two  to  twenty 
hours,  the  experimenter  again  used  the  Italian  words  as 
stimuli,  and  got  the  score  of  correct  responses,  and  also  a 
report  of  associative  aids  employed  in  remembering 
any  of  the  pairs. 

"Under  these  conditions,  the  more  quickly  learned 
pairs  were  the  better  retained.     Thus : 

Of  the  pairs  learned  in  1  reading,  73  per  cent  were 
recalled  after  the  interval. 

Of  the  pairs  learned  in  2  readings,  72  per  cent  were 
recalled  after  the  interval. 

Of  the  pairs  learned  in  3  readings,  63  per  cent  were 
recalled  after  the  interval. 

Of  the  pairs  learned  in  4  readings,  58  per  cent  were 
recalled  after  the  interval. 

Of  the  pairs  learned  in  5  readings,  38  per  cent  were 
recalled  after  the  interval. 

Of  the  pairs  learned  in  6-11  readings,  27  per  cent 
were  recalled  after  the  interval. 


128  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

"Since  the  aided  pairs  (pairs  in  which  the  subject  saw 
some  relation  between  the  terms  or  developed  some 
mnemonic  to  hold  them  together)  were  both  more  quick- 
ly learned  and  better  retained  than  the  unaided  pairs, 
the  advantage  of  quick  learning  probably  lies  partly 
in  this  association  with  aids.  But  this  is  not  the  whole 
story,  for  when  the  unaided  pairs  are  considered  by 
themselves,  the  quickly  learned  among  them  are  better 
retained  than  the  slowly  learned ;  and,  indeed,  the 
quickness  or  slowness  of  learning  makes  more  difference 
to  retention  where  no  aids  are  present  than  where  they 
are  present.  We  conclude  that  quick  learning  favors 
retention,  and  aided  learning  favors  retention  each 
independently ;  but  that  the  two  influences  work 
together,  inasmuch  as  the  best  aids  suggest  themselves 
promptly  and  promote  quick  learning." 

But  does  this  speed  conduce  also  to  retention 
as  well  as  to  time-saving  and  to  mind-training? 
In  other  words,  is  work  so  done  remembered? 
Apparently  it  is,  for  this  matter  of  the  rapidity 
of  learning  in  relation  to  the  retention  of  the 
matter  learned,  Professor  W.  H.  Pyle  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Missouri  has  studied  accurately.  His 
summary  of  the  results  reads:  "Twelve  sub- 
jects were  tested  for  their  rate  of  learning  a  pas- 
sage of  easy  prose,  and  for  their  retention  of  the 
passage  after  a  lapse  of  twenty-four  hours.  The 
most  rapid  learners  showTed  the  highest  percent- 
age of  retention." 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE   USE     129 

Here  again  we  are  reminded,  and  forcibly,  of 
the  great  importance,  for  economical  learning,  of 
expending  much  energy  for  short  periods  at  a  time. 
This  matter  can  scarcely  be  too  often  emphasized 
as  a  practical  point  for  easy  learning. 

Note-taking  is  just  as  essential  in  either  the 
intensive  or  the  extensive  use  of  books  as  in  taking 
lectures,  if  we  would  do  our  learning  both  well 
and  economically.  The  process  required  is  some- 
thing like  this  :  —  Abstract  each  paragraph  or 
topic  after  reading  it  carefully  through  twice,  and 
write  the  gist  of  the  abstract,  in  your  own  words 
so  far  as  possible.  Only  the  use  of  our  own  words 
will  show  that  we  really  have  abstracted  the  mean- 
ing, and  that  we  appreciate  the  sense  sufficiently 
well  to  be  able  to  write  it  concisely  out  of  our 
inner  understanding.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
make  our  abstract  of  a  paragraph  or  a  topic  in 
words  before  us,  in  those  of  the  book,  it  will  be 
apt  to  degenerate  practically  into  a  process  of 
copying,  at  least  to  some  degree. 

After  a  little  more  experience,  the  motor  note- 
taking,  that  is  that  on  paper,  will  be  discon- 
tinued by  most  of  us  for  we  shall  soon  have  dis- 
covered that  the  mental  part  of  the  process  of 
taking  notes  has  been  transferred  to  our  reading 


130  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

habit.  In  other  words,  after  a  little  experience 
of  this  practice  we  shall  find  ourselves  studying 
and  reading  by  the  abstracting  and  note-taking 
method,  but  without  writing  the  notes  save  in  our 
figurative  sense  of  inscribing  them  on  the  pro- 
ductive and  constructive  tablets  of  our  brain. 
If  we  try  along  this  line  we  shall  soon  learn  to 
think  (i.e.,  abstract  and  extend)  and  read  at  the 
same  time.  Note-abstracting  and  integrating 
each  paragraph  or  chapter  or  topic  in  the  book 
is,  then,  a  very  fundamental  thing  indeed,  be- 
cause in  this  way  we  symbolically  impress  on  our 
brains  the  gist  of  the  matter  in  another  part  of 
the  brain  and  also  in  a  wholly  different  manner. 

Another  highly  important  and  often  neglected 
practical  practice  (especially  for  young  students) 
is  the  systematic  use  of  a  dictionary  "alongside" 
the  book  which  they  are  reading.  The  very 
general  neglect  of  the  dictionary  is  one  of  the  chief 
defects  of  present-day  learning  methods,  in  lit- 
erature and  in  science,  especially.  This  strange 
neglect  is  the  cause,  first,  of  the  surprisingly  small 
diction  or  vocabulary  of  which  so  very  many 
educators  are  everywhere  complaining.  In  the 
second  place,  it  is  in  part  the  cause  of  the  lack 
of  power  to  use  good  English.     In  the  third  place, 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE   USE     131 

it  is  partly  the  cause  of  the  lack  of  the  thinking- 
habit,  because  it  means  a  lack  of  associative  ma- 
terial for  the  mind's  use.  If  we  really  wish  to 
develop  these  three  large  and  basal  fractions  of 
an  education,  a  good  vocabulary,  a  good  use  of 
language,  and  a  good  thinking-habit,  we  shall 
cultivate  intimacy  with  dictionaries,  years  on  end. 
As  we  read,  we  should  keep  a  list  of  the  words  en- 
countered which  are  not  familiar,  and  effectively 
familiar,  to  be  looked  for  and  investigated  in  the 
dictionary.  The  knowledge  and  mental  breadth 
thus  acquired  are  rapidly  accumulative  and  bear 
interest  of  valuable  intelligence  compounded  not 
only  semi-annually  but  every  night  while  one  is 
asleep.  Doctor  A.  A.  Berle  has  expressed  it  well 
in  his  timely  and  suggestive  "Teaching  in  the 
Home."  « 

"Now  it  must  be  reasonably  clear  that  if  books  are 
to  be  used  in  the  later  education,  the  first  thing  to  do  is 
to  get  the  ability  to  read  them.  Therefore  the  child- 
training  will  see  to  it  that  wherever  a  choice  is  possible 
the  choice  will  fall  upon  the  word  which  will  be  used  in 
books,  rather  than  in  colloquial  assemblies.  I  think  I 
have  said  elsewhere  that  half  the  children  in  our  high 
schools  cannot  read  their  textbooks,  and  this  is  un- 
doubtedly true.     Through  our  entire  grade  system  we 

1  Moffatt,  Yard,  &  Company,  New  York,  1915.  , 


132  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

stick  to  the  colloquial  habit  when  we  should  be  making 
the  book  habit.  But  it  should  be  made  even  before 
that,  namely  in  the  home.  At  first  sight,  this  seems 
like  making  the  home  conversation  stiff,  and  void  of  the 
vivacity  which  is  said  to  be  the  chief  charm  of  non- 
bookish  talk.  But  my  observation  and  experience  lead 
me  to  think  that  exactly  the  reverse  is  true.  No  con- 
versation is  so  bright,  so  sparkling,  or  so  enjoyable,  as 
that  which  uses  words  with  precision  and  enables  the 
thought  to  play  swiftly  and  with  discrimination  upon 
the  fine  shadows  of  meaning.  Nothing  enables  one  to 
use  quotations  with  such  telling  effect.  Nothing  moves 
the  mind  to  greater  expertness  or  appreciation.  One 
reason  why  an  older  generation  had  so  much  purer 
speech  than  ours  seems  to  have,  was  because  the  fine 
old  habit  of  reading  aloud  prevailed  then,  which  intro- 
duced the  reading  vocabulary  into  the  area  of  common 
conversation.  Children  heard  their  elders  use  not  only 
pure  speech  but  the  dialect  of  knowledge.  They  gained 
from  hearing  poetry  and  fiction  and  sermons  and  classic 
literature,  read  at  the  family  fireside,  a  great  instrument 
of  comparison  which  was  a  thought-builder,  second  to 
nothing. 

"Obviously,  then,  intensive  training  must  think  first 
and  foremost  and  all  the  time  of  English,  and  that  not 
merely  the  pure  English  of  popular  speech,  but  the 
English  of  books." 

The  next  few  years  will  certainly  develop  much 
advance  along  just  this  line  of  educational  and 
psychologic  wisdom.  This  is  the  road  to  true, 
conceptual-efficient   education,    to    the    essential 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE  USE     133 

habit  of  productive  self-reliant  thought.  The 
place  for  the  student  to  begin  this  dictionary-use 
is  in  his  textbooks. 

The  relation  of  ample  diction  (a  large  knowledge 
and  ready  use  of  very  many  words),  of  thought, 
and  of  intelligence  is  so  close  —  these  three-in- 
one  are  so  wholly  interdependent,  that  again, 
for  double  emphasis,  it  is  suggested  that  the 
continual  use  of  the  dictionary,  especially  of  an 
ample  dictionary  of  synonyms  and  antonyms,  is 
among  all  modes  of  educational  ''bother"  among  the 
most  essential,  because  directly  the  most  productive, 
especially  for  the  young.  It  is  most  unfortunate 
that  our  grade-system  does  not  include  a  de- 
liberate study  of  the  English  word-books,  since 
every  new  word  really  learned  is  a  new  concept 
and  in  general  the  ever-breeding  germ  of  a  new 
set  of  interwoven  ideas  —  relating  and  inter- 
knitting  without  end,  save  as  the  cortical  neurones 
cease  their  associations  and  grow  cold. 

As  a  point  of  practice  the  possession  and  use 
of  printing  outfits  by  young  people  between  eight 
and  eighteen  is  of  very  great  educative  value  and 
for  several  obvious  reasons.  (1)  This  kind  of 
play-work-study  teaches  orderliness  automatically, 
for  a  disorderly  printing  shop,  one  in  a  general  pi, 


134  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

so  to  say.  like  the  mind  itself,  is  self-destructive. 
(2)  It  teaches  the  nature  and  choice  of  words, 
giving  the  student  an  intensive  knowledge,  a 
"massive"  conception  of  those,  at  least,  which  he 
sets  up  laboriously  in  his  composing  stick,  adjusts 
in  the  form,  and  distributes  again  into  their 
compartments.  (3)  Printing  teaches  punctuation 
(just  now,  unfortunately,  to  some  extent  out  of 
fashion)  and  more  quickly  than  any  other  method. 
(4)  Hand-press  work  is  an  ideal  form  of  me- 
chanics for  inculcating  close  observation,  delicate 
visual  and  kinesthetic  discrimination  by  eye  and 
hand  and  finger.  A  good  hand-printing  press 
is  a  fairly  complex  instrument,  built  and  operated 
on  fundamental  laws  of  physics,  and  if  the  student 
learns  to  do  fine  work,  it  rapidly  develops  the 
most  careless  and  heedless  into  a  person  of  fine 
discrimination  of  touch  and  kinesthesia  and 
sight.  (5)  Composition  of  forms  of  type  in  or- 
dinary, varied,  job-work  teaches  the  new  printer 
that  sense  of  harmony  and  proportion,  of  em- 
phasis, logical  and  perceptual,  and  taste  in  general 
which  are  at  the  very  basis  of  our  modern  literary 
work,  particularly  in  its  more  practical  and  com- 
mercial phases.  (6)  Printing  teaches  patience 
and    cleanliness,    as    well    as    industry    and    the 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE  USE     135 

principles  of  conducting  a  business.  (7)  This 
art,  at  once  play,  work,  and  study,  is  oftentimes 
the  start  of  a  life-long  interest  in  the  publishing 
business  or  in  engraving.  At  any  rate,  if  prac- 
ticed adequately,  it  gives  a  boy  or  a  girl  a  trade 
or  even  a  craft  which  anywhere  might  earn  him 
a  livelihood  at  least.  (8)  Printing  gives  a  taste 
and  an  appreciation  of  a  well-made  book.  (9) 
Newspaper  editors  have  been  developed  before 
this  by  the  production  of  toy  journals.  Twenty 
or  thirty  fonts  of  small  and  varied  type  and  a 
good  hand-press,  printing  say  5X7  inches,  may 
be  considered,  educationally,  to  be  as  good  an 
investment  for  a  hundred  dollars  as  can  be  had ; 
thirty  dollars  will  accomplish  the  principles  of 
the  same  results. 

We  should  have  as  large  a  variety  of  textbooks  as 
it  is  possible  for  us  to  possess.  This  is  an  invest- 
ment, rather  than  an  expense ;  it  means  an  in- 
come, not  an  intellectual  or  a  financial  deficit. 
Most  of  these  textbooks  should  be  kept.  They  are, 
in  a  sense,  an  important  part  of  our  minds.  If 
we  would  insist  on  a  definite,  desirable  number  of 
textbooks  to  be  owned,  the  number  may  be  set 
at  three  on  every  subject.  This  number  will 
give  us  a  considerable  variety  of  points  of  view  on 


136  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

the  same  branch  of  learning  or  the  same  sciences, 
and  make  for  wisdom  as  well  as  for  knowledge. 

Furthermore,  we  should  have  as  much  as  is 
expedient  of  collateral  reading,  if  we  wish  to  get 
all  we  can  out  of  our  textbooks.  This  adds  in- 
terest and  many  details,  and  makes  particularly 
for  breadth  of  mind  in  the  subject  which  we  are 
studying. 

For  purposes  of  completeness,  and  even  of  com- 
parison with  the  principles  of  the  present  book, 
it  may  be  useful  to  have  before  us  also  a  summary 
of  the  ideas  of  an  earlier  writer  on  how  to  study, 
Professor  F.  M.  McMurry,  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, as  made  by  Professor  J.  E.  W.  Wallin,  of 
St.  Louis.     He  writes  :  — 

"McMurry  finds  eight  requisites  of  economic 
study.  (1)  The  child  must  at  the  very  outset 
feel  a  definite,  specific  purpose  or  need  in  his  study 
—  not  the  vague,  general  aim  to  acquire  knowl- 
edge, culture,  efficiency,  power  or  skill,  but  some 
specific  problem  in  the  lesson  assigned.  This 
will  supply  a  vital  interest  to  energize  effort,  fo- 
calize and  sustain  attention;  it  will  transform 
knowledge-getting  from  a  mere  collecting  of  facts 
at  random  to  a  discriminating  choice  of  data  rele- 
vant to  the  specific  aim ;  and  it  will  divert  knowl- 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE   USE     137 

edge  into  practical  channels.  (2)  Pupils  should 
be  taught  to  organize  their  reading  matter  around 
these  leading  points,  and  to  subordinate  the  sup- 
porting data  in  the  order  of  value.  This  involves 
keeping  the  central  thoughts  clearly  in  mind, 
the  rapid  gleaning  or  neglect  of  the  unessential 
details,  and  the  observance  of  a  certain  procedure 
in  teaching.  (3)  Since  the  text  must  treat  topics 
fragmentarily,  require  the  child  to  reconstruct 
and  supplement  the  text-book  treatment  by  his 
own  ideas  and  experiences.  This  requires  the 
use  of  developmental  instruction,  texts  with 
abundant  details,  emphasis  on  reflection  as  against 
verbal  repetition,  and  versatility  in  methods  of 
reproduction.  (4)  Children  should  be  encouraged 
to  assume  a  critical  attitude  toward  what  they 
read,  and  to  pass  independent  judgments  upon 
the  credibility  of  the  statements  in  print,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  the  latter  are  often  exaggerated,  one- 
sided, inadequate  or  false.  (5)  They  should  like- 
wise assume  an  unprejudiced,  tentative  attitude 
toward  knowledge,  because  many  of  our  con- 
clusions are  possibilities  or  probabilities  rather 
than  established  certainties,  because  our  atti- 
tudes are  so  prone  to  become  dogmatic  and  ultra- 
conservative,  and  because  children  incline  to  base 


138  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

their  opinions  on  authority  rather  than  reason. 
(6)  Studying  also  involves  memorizing,  but  its 
importance  has  been  grossly  exaggerated  in  past 
educational  practice  and  theory.  It  has  been 
made  the  pack  horse  of  education,  becoming 
practically  synonymous  with  studying,  so  that 
children  have  rebelled  against  the  intolerable 
drudgery  of  school  life.  The  drill  likewise  has 
usurped  too  much  attention,  and  has  been  a 
prolific  cause  of  educational  waste,  stultifying 
instead  of  nourishing  the  child.  This  chapter, 
in  contrast  with  the  others,  is  destructive  rather 
than  constructive  in  tendency.  (7)  Children 
should  be  obliged  to  apply  the  information  gained 
through  study,  since  use  or  adaptation  to  en- 
vironment is  the  end-point  of  ideas,  of  the  capac- 
ities and  abilities  of  animals  and  men,  of  the  sub- 
ject-matter of  any  branch  of  study  whatsoever, 
and  of  all  education.  This  is  the  goal  of  ideas 
as  well  as  ideas,  and  can  be  realized  not  only  in 
manual  and  constructive  execution  but  also  in 
skillful  talking  about  the  subject-matter.  (8) 
Lastly,  there  should  be  ample  provision  for  in- 
dividuality in  study."  (These  are  the  most  de- 
sirably explicit  directions  for  scientific  economical 
learning  which  have  been  published  up  to  the 
present  time.) 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE   USE     139 

A  few  words  regarding  books  other  than  text- 
books, and  especially  as  to  their  use,  may  be 
added  properly  in  this  connection,  since  often- 
times these  are  important  factors  in  our  easy 
learning.  They  lend  breadth  to  our  education 
as  nothing  else  can  do.  Some  books,  for  example, 
written  for  popular  sale,  have  much  basal  science 
and  philosophy  in  them  because  they  are  often 
summaries  of  many  other  far  more  fundamental 
treatises.  Most  of  them  are  fragmentary,  how- 
ever, rather  than  really  integrative,  their  material 
being  chosen  on  other  than  a  scientific  basis  by 
some  more  or  less  incompetent  person.  The 
reading  or  at  least  the  acquaintance  with  the 
range  and  the  main  theses  of  numerous  current 
and  older  books  on  subjects  allied  to  that  being 
studied,  is  in  general  quite  necessary  in  order  that 
a  student  may  be  accurately  and  wisely  oriented 
and  remain  so.  A  thinker  without  many  books 
well  read  is  apt  to  become  a  pedant  and  a  crank, 
just  as  a  bookworm  without  thought  is  an  encyclo- 
pedia and  not  a  man  or  woman  at  all,  —  a  passive, 
useful  vegetable  at  most. 

Many  hard  and  serious  students  and  scholars, 
especially  adults,  read  evenings,  or  even  at  other 
times,  purely  for  recreation ;  and  many  high-school 


140  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

and  college  students  find  time  for  much  reading 
not  directly  related  to  their  curriculum.  In  the 
early  part  of  1916  Professor  J.  Carleton  Bell  of 
Brooklyn  and  Itasca  B.  Swett  of  the  University 
of  Texas,  reported  the  results  of  an  investiga- 
tion which  they  had  made  into  the  reading 
interests  of  the  high-school  students  of  Austin, 
440  of  them  :  — 

"With  the  girls,  light  fiction  forms  the  largest  part  of 
voluntary  reading.  The  general  tendency  is  for  this  to 
decrease  during  the  high-school  period,  but  a  decided 
fall  in  the  low  tenth  grade  is  followed  by  a  rise  in  the 
high  tenth  and  low  eleventh.  With  the  boys,  books  of 
adventure  take  the  high  place  occupied  by  light  fiction 
with  the  girls.  On  the  other  hand,  books  of  adventure 
with  the  girls  drop  to  practically  the  same  position  as  that 
held  by  light  fiction  with  the  boys.  .  .  .  The  interest 
in  standard  fiction  increases  with  both  boys  and  girls  as 
we  go  upward  through  the  grades.  The  short  story 
does  not  hold  so  high  a  place  as  might  be  expected  either 
with  boys  or  girls.  Its  position  remains  fairly  constant 
through  the  grades.  With  the  boys,  children's  books 
take  about  equal  rank  with  short  stories.  With  the 
girls  they  are  much  more  popular.  Their  popularity 
with  the  girls  increases  as  we  advance  in  the  grades, 
while  with  the  boys  it  remains  about  stationary.  Biog- 
raphy and  essays  show  a  slight  increase  in  popularity 
with  both  boys  and  girls,  but  they  don't  take  a  high 
rank  at  any  time." 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE   USE     141 

History,  science,  and  fairy  stories  were  found 
to  be  so  little  read  that  their  variations  were  not 
put  into  the  graphic  form.  In  general,  plot 
provides  the  maximum  interest  for  both  girls 
and  boys  —  a  matter  that  brain-tired  adults 
numerously  and  joyously  will  confirm.  These  re- 
sults may  be  used  as  norms  for  the  general  reading 
guidance  of  young  people. 

Books  after  all  are  only  tools ;  private  books 
are  seldom  worn  out ;  and  second-hand  books  are 
of  little  sale-value,  usually  "fetching"  only  about 
ten  per  cent  of  their  original  retail  cost,  even  when 
not  far  from  new.  For  these  reasons  and  others 
we  should  not  affectedly  make  fetishes  of  our  books, 
but  rather  use  them  for  all  they  (and  we)  are  worth. 
It  is  a  lot  better  to  "break  the  back"  of  a  book 
than  to  be  long  bothered  in  using  it  by  its  im- 
proper and  inconvenient  binding.  It  is  far  bet- 
ter to  harm  it  commercially  by  writing  notes  on 
its  margins,  than  to  miss  the  value  of  these  notes 
in  our  learning  minds.  We  should  buy  good  edi- 
tions if  we  can  afford  them,  but  if  not,  cheap 
editions.  The  difference  in  the  print,  paper,  and 
the  like,  if  the  reading-light  be  good,  nowadays  is 
not  of  relative  importance  for  the  simple  reason 
that  now  type  and  paper  are  much  cheaper  and 


142  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

therefore  better,  and  that  more  reprints  are  made 
than  in  former  times. 

Most  work  with  books  should  be  done  in  the 
daytime,  for  usually  the  nighttime  is  for  recrea- 
tion and  for  sleep.  We  frequently  see  a  student 
try  to  read  (as  well  as  to  sleep)  with  a  strong  light 
shining  directly  or  indirectly  into  his  eyes.  This 
matter  is  of  great  importance,  because  a  strong 
light  shining  directly  into  the  eyes  irritates  the 
brain,  as  well  as  the  eyes  themselves.  The 
forenoon  is  the  best  time  for  the  best  book  work, 
(that  which  is  original  and  intensive)  but  the  quiet 
early  night  is  a  good  time  also.  It  is  well  always 
to  insist  on  a  good  light  behind  the  reader  and 
not  in  front,  unless  the  eyes  be  shaded  by  some- 
kind  of  really  opaque  shade  —  the  usual  trans- 
lucent or  transparent  green  shade  is  not  opaque. 
A  direct,  unshaded  electric  light  is  too  bright  for 
most  eyes.  A  good  kerosene  lamp  or  two  gas 
flames  (a  naked  flame  and  a  mantle-flame  mixed) 
is  much  better  than  direct  electricity ;  strong 
electric  light  reflected  from  the  ceiling  is  ideal,  but 
in  most  cases  such  light  is  not  sufficiently  in- 
tense for  easy  reading. 

A  note-book  should  be  near  by,  "handy",  in  all 
reading,    provided   we  wish   really  to   learn   the 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE  USE     143 

book,  and  learn  it  economically.  We  should 
read  the  preface ;  and  usually  the  introduction  of 
a  book  (however  contrary  this  advice  may  be  to 
common  habit),  because  the  preface  and  the 
introduction  together  usually  orient  us,  set  us  going 
aright,  and  will  satisfy  that  curiosity  which  other- 
wise is  sure  to  be  aroused  during  the  reading  of 
the  book.  If  our  impatience  positively  cannot 
be  withstood,  do  by  all  means  look  a  second  or 
two  at  the  last  chapter,  so  that  curiosity  may  not 
disturb  the  mind  any  further.  We  should  always 
look  over  the  table  of  contents,  if  not  the  neces- 
sary index,  so  that  we  may  know  at  all  times  about 
where  we  are  in  the  book.  Then,  too,  we  shall 
know  better  what,  if  anything,  to  "skim",  and  of 
what  to  lay  permanent  hold.  In  general,  we 
should  be  warned  against  skimming  a  book  unless 
we  are  certain  in  advance  that  the  book  really  de- 
serves to  be  skimmed.  This  is  essentially  a  habit 
of  inattention ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  some- 
times our  attention  can  be  used  just  in  this  way 
to  the  best  advantage,  provided  we  acquire  the 
habit  of  picking  out  rapidly,  as  we  skim,  the  real 
essence  of  a  page.  This  procedure  is  allied  to 
the  process  of  abstracting,  already  considered. 
Certainly  much  time  is  wasted  in  the  slow  reading 


144  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

of  every  word  of  certain  books;   there  are  books 
and  books. 

Remember  that  a  book  intends,  most  often  at 
least,  to  represent  some  sort  of  a  set  of  ideas. 
We  should  take  this  for  granted  anyhow,  and 
make  it  our  sole  business  as  a  student  in  reading 
the  book  to  pick  out  these  vital  ideas.  Since  this 
essentially  means  comprehension,  it  is  not  sur- 
prisingly easy ;  yet  it  must  be  done,  since  nothing 
pedagogic  will  replace  practice  and  careful  train- 
ing in  this  important  matter.  The  young  student 
at  first  reads  or  studies  a  book,  equally,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end,  putting  the  same  amount  of 
time  and  effort  on  each  page.  But  the  mind 
never  works  that  way,  outside  of  books !  As  we 
walked  down  the  street  yesterday  looking  in  the 
attractive  windows  our  minds  did  not  spend  so 
much  time  on  some  things  along  the  way  as  on 
others ;  at  camp,  last  summer,  certain  salient 
points  made  up  our  particular  mental  day,  and 
no  other  camper's  day  as  an  unit  was  just  like 
ours ;  each  one's  experience  is  unique ;  life  is 
different  for  each  human  soul.  Our  mind's  as- 
sociations, our  needs,  our  interests,  and  so  on, 
should  select  what  for  us  are  the  most  salient 
points.     Thus   it  is   in   reading.     Francis   Bacon 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE  USE     145 

familiarly  says,  "Some  books  are  to  be  tasted, 
others  to  be  swallowed,  and  some  few  to  be  di- 
gested ",  and  more  and  more,  with  the  ever-swell- 
ing and  boundless  tide  of  published  books,  is  this 
old  dictum  appropriate.  We  each  buy  a  copy  of 
the  same  elaborate  book,  printed  from  precisely  the 
same  types,  yet  your  book  is  never  like  my  book ! 
It  means  more  or  less  or  differently  to  you  than  it 
means  to  me ;  and  its  meanings  for  its  readers  are 
itself.  Your  books  are  not  my  books,  although 
they  be  materially  identical.  They  are  not  the 
same  simply  because  your  mind  is  unlike  mine. 
Thus  it  is  that  in  every  book  there  are  many 
books  for  many  minds.  We  should  try  always  to 
get  ours  out  of  every  book  we  read.  We  should 
learn  in  reading  and  studying  to  pick  our  own 
individual  "book"  out  of  a  volume.  In  other 
words,  we  should  learn  to  note  the  part  that  is 
for  ourselves,  and  learn  not  to  waste  time  on  those 
parts  of  a  book  that  are  not  for  us,  whether  be- 
cause familiar  or  incongruous. 

Learn  to  read  a  book  without  reading  on  the 
average  more  than  a  quarter  of  it !  Learn  to  get 
the  meat  out !  With  the  enormous  number  of 
books  that  are  of  real  importance,  no  other  method 
in    truth    is    feasible;     for    economical    learning 


146  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

nothing  in  the  long  run  is  more  essential  than 
this,  the  intensive,  method.  Learn  to  abstract, 
learn  (as  reviewers  have  to  do)  really  to  become 
familiar  with  the  most  of  a  book  without  undue 
loss  of  time !  In  my  reviewing  work,  I  learn  the 
gist  of  many  new  and  variously  difficult  books  in 
the  course  of  a  year,  but  (save  exciting  detective 
stories  or  novels)  I  read  every  word  of  scarcely 
half  a  dozen.  The  training-road  to  this  goal  is 
abstracting  a  paragraph  by  a  sentence  and  then 
a  chapter  by  a  page  of  notes  and  so  on  to  the  end. 
We  should  be  careful  not  to  write  into  our  notes 
of  a  book  our  own  ideas  which  have  been  sug- 
gested to  us  by  the  reading;  this  is  a  common 
bad  habit  of  young  students. 

A  few  words  as  to  periodical  literature.  To-day 
learning  is  slow  and  old-fashioned  which  does 
not  include  at  least  a  few  of  the  special  technical 
magazines.  Elementary  study  requires  these  as 
collateral  reading;  and  advanced  study  requires 
them  for  advanced  information  and  for  integra- 
tion, and  to  relate  to  ourselves  the  status  of 
public  opinion  and  taste. 

The  importance  of  bibliographies  to  students  can 
scarcely  be  overestimated,  because  the  knowledge 
of  the  name  and  title  of  a  volume  or  of  an  article 


BOOKS  AND  THEIR  EDUCATIVE   USE     147 

is  often  the  next-best  thing  to  its  actual  pos- 
session. Knowledge  of  the  available  libraries  is 
essential,  and  the  proper  way  of  using  them  is 
wholly  necessary  to  the  really  progressive  student. 
Next  to  really  knowing  a  good  book,  is  to  know, 
first,  that  it  exists,  second  where,  and  third,  — 
very  often  this  is  enough ! 

All  these  factors  of  book-use  count  not  only  in 
themselves,  but  also  as  indirect  means  of  keeping 
the  less  conscious  parts  of  the  mind  on  its  task  of 
arranging  and  pushing  your  scholastic  work. 


CHAPTER  V 
IS  YOUR  "THINKER"  IN  ORDER? 

The  ordinary  supposition  among  educators  as 
well  as  among  the  business-men  of  the  world  is 
that  the  "thinker"  of  the  average  student  is 
not  in  order.  This,  we  all  "take"  it,  is  one  of 
the  deepest  of  the  objections  to  the  present  edu- 
cational system  —  that  it  does  not  teach  stu- 
dents to  think  for  themselves.  A  truly  educated 
man  knows  how  to  think,  and,  moreover,  he  has 
the  process  habituated  and,  therefore,  in  easy 
action.  It  is  said  with  truth  that  the  present 
school  system  does  not  educate  as  yet  in  this  sense 
at  all.  As  a  school-boy  said  to  Sir  Gilbert  Par- 
ker, "I  am  sick  of  information;  I'd  like  to  think 
a  bit,  but  I  haven't  time.  It's  stuff  me  with 
things  I  learn  to-day  and  forget  to-morrow." 
Compare  with  this  remark  of  a  gamin  in  London 
that  of  Professor  John  Dewey,  of  Columbia 
University :  — 

"Any  examination  of  the  prevailing  modes  of 

148 


IS  YOUR  "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     149 

instruction  will  show  that  the  mere  bulk  of  matter 
communicated  in  books  and  lectures  tends  to 
swamp  the  native  and  active  interests  operative 
in  intelligent  behavior  and  in  the  acquaintance- 
ship it  brings.  There  this  matter  remains  un- 
assimilated,  unorganized,  not  really  understood. 
It  stands  on  a  dead  level,  hostile  to  the  selective 
arrangement  characteristic  of  thinking." 

These  quotations  express  the  opinion  of  all 
"thoughtful"  students,  and  this  condition  is  the 
same  in  the  school  systems  of  the  whole  world. 
A  dictionary  has  facts  and  aplenty,  but  only 
man  has  thoughtful  reason. 

Read  Emerson  on  "  Self -Reliance  ",  — 

"To  believe  your  own  thought,  to  believe  that  what 
is  true  for  you  in  your  private  heart  is  true  for  all  men, 
—  that  is  genius.  Speak  your  latent  conviction,  and 
it  shall  be  the  universal  sense;  for  the  inmost  in  due 
time  becomes  the  outmost,  and  our  first  thought  is 
rendered  back  to  us  by  the  trumpets  of  the  Last  Judg- 
ment. Familiar  as  the  voice  of  the  mind  is  to  each,  the 
highest  merit  we  ascribe  to  Moses,  Plato,  and  Milton  is 
that  they  set  at  naught  books  and  traditions,  and  spoke 
not  what  men  but  what  they  thought.  A  man  should 
learn  to  detect  and  watch  that  gleam  of  light  which 
flashes  across  his  mind  from  within  more  than  the  lustre 
of  the  firmament  of  bards  and  sages.  Yet  he  dis- 
misses without  notice  his  thought,  because  it  is  his. 


150  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

In  every  work  of  genius  we  recognize  our  own  rejected 
thoughts ;  they  come  back  to  us  with  a  certain  alien- 
ated Majesty.  Great  works  of  art  have  no  more 
affecting  lesson  for  us  than  this.  They  teach  us  to 
abide  by  our  spontaneous  impression  with  good- 
humored  inflexibility  then  most  when  the  whole  cry  of 
voices  is  on  the  other  side.  Else  to-morrow  a  stranger 
will  say  with  masterly  good  sense  precisely  what  we 
have  thought  and  felt  all  the  time,  and  we  shall  be 
forced  to  take  with  shame  our  own  opinion  from 
another." 

The  reform  of  the  school  system  in  this  respect, 
that  annual  $  800,000,000  system,  is  a  matter  of 
many  years,  but  an  individual  may  reform  him- 
self in  this  regard  in  a  few  weeks.  He  may  learn 
to  think,  and  "learn  himself"  more  or  less  in  this 
manner,  indeed,  he  may  keep  his  "thinker"  in 
order :  — 

Every  one  of  us  has  some  kind  of  a  "thinker," 
for  no  really  feeble-minded  person,  probably,  is 
reading  this  advice,  and  certainly  no  idiots  — 
these  last  by  definition  have  no  "thinkers."  In 
some  cases  our  "thinkers"  may  be  said  to  be 
atonic  and  small,  and  not  of  much  use  now. 
But  they  may  be  developed  if  we  will  to  develop 
them.  (These  are  the  "thinkers"  of  the  rela- 
tively stupid  people.) 

In   some   cases    our    "thinkers"    are   well   de- 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"  IN  ORDER?     151 

veloped,  but  rusty  and  creaky  and  dried  out; 
these  need  a  thorough  cleaning  and  oiling  and 
vigorous  use.     (These  are  the  lazy  students.) 

In  some  cases  the  "thinkers"  have  parts  which 
are  likely  to  break  down  at  any  moment.  (These 
are  the  illogical  minds  and  the  guessers.) 

In  some  (in  most)  cases  our  "thinkers"  are 
normal,  but  have  the  uncertain  and  difficult 
action  of  newness;  they  are  not  used  nearly 
enough  to  make  them  run  smoothly ;  they  should 
be  cleaned  with  determination  first  of  all,  then 
oiled  with  intelligence  and  energy.  (These  are 
the  average  minds.) 

To  adopt  a  more  biological  metaphor,  unused 
"thinkers",  like  all  the  other  organs,  tend  to 
atrophy,  and  fibrosis  or  sclerosis  is  the  neglectful 
result  of  inadequate  action.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  as  delightful  as  it  is  useful  to  take  systematic 
exercise  and  so  to  become  a  strong  or  perhaps 
even  an  intellectual  athlete.  But  how  few  of 
the  vast,  hurrying,  heedless  throng  of  adolescents 
and  of  men  and  women  can  be  made  effectively 
to  realize  this !  Yet  the  process,  as  well  as  the 
product,  is  a  continual  delight,  and  it  is  the  most 
essential  process  in  the  mind's  whole  action.  The 
factors   of   education   are   more   numerous   than 


152  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

many  suppose,  and  each  one  requires  thought 
and  teaches  thought :  —  the  home,  the  schools, 
books,  our  associates,  our  vocation,  the  stage, 
travel,  the  state,  the  church  —  learning  is  a 
process  of  reaction  to  each  of  these.  All  nine 
factors  contribute  material  for  learning  which  is 
valuable  more  or  less  in  proportion  to  the  thought- 
fulness  and  activity  with  which  it  is  allowed  to 
act  on  the  learning  mind.  Learning  is  a  process 
of  activity  of  personality,  and  develops  in  quality 
and  quantity  in  proportion  equally  to  the  indi- 
vidual's inherent  fitness  and  to  the  richness  of  his 
effective  environment.  Thought  is  this  reaction 
or  a  part  of  it.  This  is  an  active  receptivity ; 
it  is  like  the  heat  coming  from  a  fire  arising  from 
oxygen  and  fuel  —  it  is  inevitable.  Thought 
stands  for  INITIATIVE  based  on  understanding 
and  originality. 

Girl-  and  women-readers  must  realize  that  this 
thinking  process  is  less  explicit  and  conscious  in 
their  minds  in  proportion  as  they  are  really 
feminine.  The  feminine  mind  "jumps  at  con- 
clusions", has  intuitions,  as  we  say.  Intuition 
has  important  educational  bearings  in  the  di- 
rection of  economy  and  easy  "learning." 

If  we  may  trust  for  educational  purposes  our 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     153 

general  experience  and  the  common  and  wide 
experience  of  numerous  life  observers  who  write 
fiction,  there  is  now  no  acceptable  reason  for 
denying  that  this  popular  concept,  intuition,  is 
live  and  real,  and  worthy,  therefore,  of  at  least  a 
brief  scientific  discussion.  Some  bolder  psycholo- 
gists and  educators,  certain  of  the  vast  educational 
importance  of  "the  subconscious",  the  subsen- 
sory  aspects  of  mind,  go  further  and  maintain 
that  intuition  is  more  characteristically  feminine 
than  masculine. 

In  general,  it  is  one  of  the  silent  mysteries  of 
mind  why  psychology  does  not  more  rapidly  study 
the  tertiary  sexual  characteristics.  It  is  possible 
that  some  would  maintain  that  this  bottomless 
crevasse  of  sex,  which  so  completely  divides  the 
entire  living  world  into  two  opposite  yet  com- 
plementary halves,  does  not  extend  into  the 
peaceful  animistic  realm  of  mind.  For  my  part, 
however,  I  do  not  believe  it,  for  I  see,  unless  my 
vision  be  in  vain,  a  forbiddingly  large  fraction 
removed  from  the  human  nature  which  we  psy- 
chologists crave  to  understand  were  sexual  mental 
differences  smoothed  out  by  some  titanic  and 
inchoate  "drive"  of  some  futuristic  suffragism, 
omnimilitant   in   its   powers.     At   any   rate   our 


154  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

present  contention  is  that  feminine  intuition  is  a 
fact  in  need  of  study  as  an  aid  in  economical 
learning. 

In  the  briefest  possible  terms,  too  concise,  indeed, 
to  be  thoroughly  scientific,  it  seems  that  intuition 
perhaps  has  as  its  inherent  character  a  fourfold 
nature  —  (1)  A  delicate  and  ill-realized  affect  or 
feeling-tone  anent  the  intuited  situation;  (2)  a 
more  or  less  accurate  process  of  comparison  and 
inference,  usually  not  at  all  consciously  appre- 
ciated ;  (3)  an  understanding  of  the  causal  situ- 
ation, often  with  much  acuteness  and  with  far- 
reaching  wisdom.  And  (4)  an  effective  instinct 
to  trust  the  impression  thus  presented  in  the 
mind,  the  instinct  in  the  adult  already  being 
long  habitual. 

At  the  base  then  of  intuition  stands  solid  and 
strong  the  appreciation  of  motivity,  an  inter- 
pretation of  human  purpose,  an  habitual  and 
therefore  automatic  tendency  to  put  ourselves 
in  another's  place,  to  make  his  problems  as  much 
our  very  own  as  if  they  were  so.  Oftentimes,  of 
course,  the  situation  involves  the  motivation  of 
numerous  persons,  not  alone  of  one,  or  an  im- 
mediate comprehension  even  of  a  whole  "social 
consciousness"  itself.     The  educational   quintes- 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     155 

sence  of  the  intuitional  process  seems  to  be  most 
always  an  appreciation  of  motivity,  of  cause,  but 
more  typically  when  in  others  than  when  in 
ourselves. 

Accepting  Professor  H.  C.  Warren's  factors  of 
purposiveness  (forethought  or  anticipation,  as- 
sent, potency-feeling,  the  self-notion,  and  the 
sense  of  fitness)  as  adequate  and  keen,  we  may 
claim  that  intuition  involves  the  appreciation  by 
the  intuiter  of  the  potential  purposive  activity 
of  the  intuitee  (if  we  may  for  convenience  use 
such  terms),  the  very  essence  of  which  activity  is 
given  to  the  former  in  ill-appreciated  but  none 
the  less  real  adaptive,  that  is  kinesthetic,  terms 
—  the  index  again  of  motor  skill.  The  intuiter 
feels,  in  short,  the  action,  the  behavior  which  the 
other's  attitude  toward  his  environment  properly 
demands  on  her  part ;  and  she  takes  it  (sub- 
consciously) for  granted  (on  an  hereditary-ex- 
perience basis)  that  the  natural  behavior  will 
occur  —  as,  barring  caprice,  it  will.  Women, 
no  more  than  men,  have  clairvoyant  powers  (so 
far  as  science  is  sure)  on  any  basis  other  than 
that  of  their  own  personal  or  inherited  experience. 
This  experience  seems  to  be  adaptive,  that  is  for 
psychology,  predominantly  kinesthetic  and  motor. 


156  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

This  kinesthetic  motor  criterion  on  which  a 
person  may  intuitively  grasp  an  "ejective" 
(personal)  situation  would  seem  to  account  for 
the  emotional  tone  in  the  recognition,  and  still 
more  surely  for  the  understanding  of  its  personal 
nature  —  two  of  our  four  suggested  intuitional 
factors.  It  may  be  properly  supposed  not  to 
account  for  the  third  factor,  an  ill-appreciated 
process  of  reasoning.  The  fourth  factor,  the  habit 
of  confidence  in  the  intuitive  process,  does  not, 
likewise,  need  further  explanation ;  however  im- 
portant, it  is  like  habituation  elsewhere. 

But  it  is  worth  noting  for  educative  purposes, 
that  the  entire  intuitional  affair,  save  for  its 
product,  is  one  of  the  highest  possible  intelli- 
gence and  at  the  same  time  typically  subconscious. 
Certainly  by  the  fostering  of  its  elementary  com- 
ponents —  sense-discrimination,  comparison,  the 
simple  feelings,  understanding,  the  habit  of  lis- 
tening to  one's  over-soul,  as  Emerson  terms 
it  —  intuition  is  liable  to  development  much  to 
the  aid  of  lif e-efficiency ;  it  is  a  possible  element 
of  training  for  easy  learning. 

Intuition,  then,  and  the  comprehension  of  a 
total  situation  of  whatsoever  sort  involving 
motive,  which  intuition  implies,  is  in  a  way  and 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     157 

in  a  degree  a  real  criterion  of  real  intelligence  in 
its  most  significant  values.  From  this  deep  way 
of  looking  at  the  matter,  the  feminine  mind  is 
more  evolved,  more  intelligent,  in  short,  than  is 
the  mind  of  the  male.  Obtuseness  stands  for  rela- 
tive lowness  of  human-grade  or  for  abnormality; 
intuition  for  a  high  degree  of  that  which  mind  is 
especially  meant  to  serve  —  the  safeguarding 
and  the  furtherance  of  the  individual.  From  such 
considerations  it  would  appear  that  intuition 
deserves  far  more  study  and  consideration  than 
thus  far  has  been  accorded  to  it  by  educational 
psychologists.  It  should  be  studied  in  the  grade 
schools  as  a  class  experiment,  and  in  the  psycho- 
logical laboratories  as  a  topic  fertile  in  substantial 
product. 

Incidentally  it  should  rejoice  every  schoolboy 
in  the  Land  and  Everyman  that  the  biologic 
source  of  our  very  being,  womanhood,  undoubt- 
edly is  the  richer  of  the  two  sexes  in  this  intuition, 
this  useful  criterion  of  our  common  human  yet 
always  divine  intelligence.  Is  not  this  richness 
a  measure  in  a  way  of  woman's  superior  intel- 
ligence? Women  and  girls  relatively  do  not 
reason  in  the  bald  cold  method  of  comparison, 
but  their  intellect  "gets  there  just  the  same", 


158  HOW  TO   LEARN  EASILY 

often  better  indeed  than  that  of  man  with  his 
technical  but  mechanistic  reason.  For  logic  is 
only  a  thin  and  cold  echo  of  the  deep  voice  of 
the  rich  human  intellect.  Women  have  always 
instinctively  trusted  to  the  products  of  the  sub- 
conscious thought  in  their  souls.  So  have  philos- 
ophers of  the  highest  rank,  for  example  Emerson.1 

A  recent  example  of  the  latter  class  is  Henri 
Poincare,  recently  dead,  a  great  discoverer  in 
mathematics,  an  astronomer,  a  well  known  writer 
and  thinker  in  philosophy.  An  editorial  in  a 
medical  journal 2  discusses  at  some  length  his  use 
of  thought  in  the  subconscious  mind,  in  part  as 
follows :  — 

"The  question  how  so  great  a  mind  works  is  extremely 
interesting.  Poincare  has  told  the  story  of  how  he 
reached  his  great  discovery  of  the  Fuchsian  functions. 
It  was  not  reached  all  at  once,  but  by  several  steps. 
The  first  and  most  important  development  came  to 
him  one  evening  when,  contrary  to  his  custom,  having 
taken  a  cup  of  black  coffee  at  dinner,  he  could  not  sleep 
and  the  idea  of  this  new  mathematical  mode  took  form 
little  by  little  under  these  unusual  circumstances.  The 
problems  which  were  involved  came  clearly  before  his 
mind  and  seemed  too  difficult  for  solution ;  so  gradually 

1  The  author  has  further  suggested  the  nature  of  intuition 
in  an  article  in  the  Psychological  Review,  XXIII,  6,  1916. 

2  Journal  Am.  Medical  Assoc,  LIX,  18,  2  Nov.,  1912. 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     159 

he  put  them  away  and  succeeded  in  falling  asleep.  The 
successive  steps  of  the  solution  came  to  him  subse- 
quently, not  as  the  result  of  deliberate  study  of  the  prob- 
lems, but  long  afterwards  and  under  most  diverse  cir- 
cumstances, at  moments  when  he  was  not  thinking  about 
them.  They  came  to  him  as  flashes  of  light,  almost 
inspirations,  as  it  were,  —  once  when  he  was  just  about 
to  put  his  foot  on  the  step  of  an  omnibus,  again  when 
he  was  crossing  a  boulevard,  a  third  time  in  the  midst 
of  a  geologic  excursion  with  some  friends,  when  the 
conversation  was  about  ordinary  subjects  and  had  no 
relation  at  all  to  mathematics. 

"Ordinarily  mathematics  at  least  is  supposed  to  be 
eminently  intellectual  and  its  developments  are  con- 
nected by  the  most  rigid  logic.  It  might  be  expected, 
then,  that  it  would  be  only  in  the  midst  of  deep  think- 
ing, even  absorption  of  mind  in  mathematical  subjects, 
that  great  new  ideas  would  come ;  but  Poincare  be- 
lieved that  it  was  a  subconscious  mind  that  solved  the 
problems.  His  explanation  of  this,  which  resembles 
that  so  often  heard  with  regard  to  the  inspiration  of  the 
poet  or  the  musician,  is  that  certain  thoughts  are  passing 
through  the  unconscious  mind  all  the  time,  and  that, 
as  in  day-dreaming,  we  are  never  without  groups  of 
thoughts.  Whenever  one  of  these  thoughts  proves  to 
be  a  particularly  beautiful  or  strikingly  novel  concep- 
tion of  some  kind  it  attracts  the  attention  of  the  con- 
scious mind  and  then  is  retained.  According  to  Poin- 
care's  experience,  then,  like  poetry  and  music,  the 
sciences,  including  mathematics,  owe  their  develop- 
ment not  to  the  rational  conscious  mind  so  much  as 
to  the  unconscious  and  involuntary  faculties.  There 
would  seem  to  be  a  tireless  force  in  man,  a  part  of  him 


160  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

and  yet  not  a  part  of  him,  working,  thinking,  develop- 
ing, which  brings  to  the  conscious  entity,  man,  his  best 
thoughts  and  discoveries.  Poincare,  for  all  his  genius, 
was  a  sane  and  simple  father  of  a  family ;  he  himself 
taught  his  four  children." 

This  is  an  example  of  subconscious  thought  in 
the  constructive  process  which  we  have  dis- 
cussed in  our  third  chapter  as  the  constructive 
imagination.  "Stop,  look,  and  listen!"  to  your 
own  minds.  This  is  one  secret  of  learning  to  think 
—  one  which  women,  heaven  bless  'em,  have 
known  instinctively  all  along.  Set  your  sub- 
conscious "thinker"  going  by  deliberate,  fixed, 
permanent  intention,  and  then  listen!  Encourage 
it  now  and  then  by  actively  giving  it  full  op- 
portunity. Let  us  stop  the  over-stuffing  of 
our  minds,  and  thus  give  them  every  possible 
opportunity  to  work.  We  feed  a  furnace  with 
coal  to  get  heat  from  it,  but  some  schools  and  some 
individual  minds  are  forever  putting  facts  into 
the  mind  but  never  providing  place  or  time  to 
use  them.  If  thought  be  "the  loved  one"  (as  it 
might  well  become  by  association)  the  familiar 
quotation  is  very  apt,  much  to  the  discredit  of  our 
present  educational  system:  —  "Never  the  time 
and  the  place  and  the  loved  one  altogether!" 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     161 

The  nature  of  thought  should  receive  brief 
attention.  Thought  is  not  revery,  musing,  fancy, 
day-dreaming,  although  most  so-called  thought  is 
just  this,  a  loose  associated  train  of  ideas  or 
notions  or  fancies.  True  thought  is  intimately 
of  the  nature  of  the  human  reason ;  is  more 
precious,  more  productive,  "sterner  stuff"  than 
a  more  or  less  passive  revery,  for  it  involves  the 
expenditure  of  force,  as  the  psychological  es- 
sence of  humanity  well  might  do.  The  most 
important  element  of  thought  is  reasoning,  al- 
though recall,  association,  and  other  processes 
are  of  value  too.  In  principle,  reasoning  is  ex- 
tremely simple :  it  is  but  a  comparison  of  things 
and  then  an  inference  from  the  comparison,  what 
Lloyd  Morgan  has  strikingly  called  "thinking 
the  therefore."  Thought,  then,  consists  of  two 
judgments ;    a  comparison,  and  an  inference. 

We  might  perhaps  develop  somewhat  the 
capability  of  intensive  thinking  by  actual  prac- 
tice in  these  several  mental  processes.  Since 
thought  as  a  series  of  efforts  (we  are  not  discussing 
revery,  which  often  certainly  masquerades  even 
in  good  company,  under  the  better-sounding 
name  of  thought)  consists  of  two  deliberate 
(although  perhaps  subconscious)  judgments,  their 


162  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

careful  discrimination,  and  then  their  comparison, 
with  the  essential,  extraneous,  mental  process  we 
term  inference  following,  it  is  not  unlikely  that 
thinking  of  the  more  logical  and  mechanically 
productive  kind  would  be  furthered  by  the  de- 
liberate development  of  these  intellectual  powers 
separately.  (1)  In  practice  we  might  train  and 
develop  our  power  of  judgment  by  making  many 
carefully  considered  and  delicate  judgments  on 
all  kinds  of  propositions,  thus  laying  a  firm  basis 
for  the  more  productive  forms  of  mental  action. 

(2)  We  might,  too,  even  by  work  as  subject  of 
experimentation  in  a  psychological  laboratory  or 
by  practice  and  effort  in  many  other  kinds  of 
place,  develop  and  train  our  sense-discrimination. 
Indeed  this  is  a  neglected  important  function  of 
the  elementary  school,  as  we  have  already  empha- 
sized, that  training  of  the  senses,  the  power  of 
delicate  discrimination,  the  only  basis  of  ac- 
curate judgment  and  comparison,  which  last  is 
in  turn  the  fundamental  process  of  the  intellect. 

(3)  Development  and  training  of  the  power  of 
keen  and  novel  inference  is  not  so  easily  sug- 
gested as  a  practical  practice-procedure,  for  we 
know  little  about  it  save  in  the  most  general 
terms  :  —  that  inference  is  a  process  of  judgment 


IS  YOUR  "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     163 

based  on  a  largely  subconscious  process  of  the 
association  of  ideas,  the  very  essence  of  human 
mental  activity  in  its  ideational  aspect.  Ob- 
viously, inference  is  an  advanced  and  more  or  less 
"neural"  form  of  association  within  or  between 
the  neurones  in  the  parts  of  the  brain-cortex 
which  are  devoted  to  thought.  We  may  at 
least  suppose  that  if  the  preliminary  processes  be 
developed  and  made  vigorous  and  habitual,  the 
inferences  would  result  more  frequently  and 
more  usefully,  leading  to  novel  and  so  to  more 
productive  thought. 

Learning  and  all  mentation  are  related  to  that 
form  of  'personal  ability  which  we  have  denoted  as 
skill.  The  judgment  of  comparison  is,  then,  one 
of  the  basal  mental  processes  at  the  bottom  of  all 
thinking  that  is  properly  so  called.  The  follow- 
ing research  1  by  the  writer,  on  the  discernment  of 
likeness,  is  a  simple  discussion  of  the  processes 
which  subtend  rational  thought  in  the  thinker's 
mind  and  brain. 

1  Journal  of  Philosophy,  Psychology,  and  Scientific  Methods. 
February  third,  1910.  The  volume  "  Kinesthesia  "  in  Moffatt,  Yard, 
&  Co.'s  "  Our  Senses  and  What  They  Mean  to  Us  "  Series,  1917-18, 
ten  volumes,  will  set  forth  the  philosophy  of  skill  and  of  ability  in 
general. 


164  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

The  Discernment  of   Likeness  and  of  UN- 
LIKENESS 

In  particular  the  research  aimed  to  help  the 
analysis  of  the  mental  process  by  which  we  be- 
come aware  of  similarity  and  of  dissimilarity. 
Its  method  is  experimental  and  it  reports  the 
simplified  laboratory -judgments  as  to  the  like- 
ness and  unlikeness  experienced  in  the  case  of 
a  series  of  visual  forms.  The  experiments  of  the 
work  were  performed  in  the  psychological  labora- 
tories of  Columbia  and  of  Harvard  universities. 
The  simple-enough  apparatus  employed  consisted 
of  the  blots  of  ink  previously  described.  From 
about  five  hundred  of  these  largely  chance  ink- 
blots made  on  paper  4  cm.  square  and  mounted 
on  thick  pasteboard  of  like  size,  one  hundred  were 
taken  as  they  chanced  to  lie  in  a  box,  that  is,  quite 
at  random.  The  backs  of  the  blot-cards  were 
numbered  consecutively  from  one  to  one  hundred 
for  ready  identification.  Besides  these,  four  other 
ink-blots  were  selected  to  constitute  the  norms 
with  which  the  others  were  to  be  compared  as  to 
their  respective  likeness  or  unlikeness.  A  wire 
frame  to  hold  fixed  the  norm-blot  convenient  to 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     165 

the  subject's  vision  and  a  table  on  which  the 
century  of  blot-cards  could  be  arranged  ten-square 
in  numerical  order  completed  the  apparatus  em- 
ployed. 

The  subjects  employed  in  this  research  were 
twenty  in  number ;  two  were  philosophical  pro- 
fessors, one  an  instructor,  and  two  assistants  in 
psychology,  while  the  rest,  with  one  exception, 
were  students  in  the  two  laboratories  where  the 
experiments  were  performed,  the  exception  noted 
being  a  college  graduate.  The  subjects  were  all 
males  ranging  in  age  between  twenty  and  forty- 
three.  The  chief  interest  and  work  of  one  of  the 
subjects  lay  in  the  art  of  music  —  a  circumstance 
whose  influence  will  be  noted  later  on.  The  in- 
terests of  the  others  were  certainly  sufficiently 
varied  to  prevent  the  occurrence  of  bias  in  any 
direction  in  their  subjective  reports,  no  one 
avowing  or  evincing  any  particular  prejudice  as 
regards  the  nature  of  the  processes  under  inquiry. 
All  the  subjects  employed  were  sufficiently  fa- 
miliar with  psychological  analysis  to  afford  both 
their  introspection  and  their  subjective  reports 
the  requisite  accuracy.  Here,  as  nearly  always, 
however,  the  chief  stress  was  laid  on  actual  re- 
actions rather  than  on  more  or  less  uncertain  and 


166  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

ambiguous  mental  images  and  ideas,  on  the 
principle  that  bodily  reactions  express  better 
than  other  means,  even  to  the  subject  himself, 
his  real  meaning  and  intention  —  a  fact  too  often 
overlooked,  perhaps,  in  the  laboratory  of  psy- 
chology. 

The  method  of  experimentation  in  detail  was 
simply  as  follows :  The  hundred  blot-cards  being 
placed  in  order  ten-square  on  the  table  before  the 
seated  subject  and  the  norm  in  its  frame  con- 
veniently before  his  eyes  and  above  the  blots, 
he  proceeded  to  select  within  fifteen  minutes  the 
ten  blot-cards  out  of  the  hundred  most  similar  in 
form  or  shape  to  the  norm,  and  to  place  them  one 
side  arranged  carefully  and  deliberately  in  the 
order  of  their  judged  similarity  to  the  norm. 
Meanwhile  the  subject  reported  how  he  apper- 
ceived  the  norm  and  what  he  considered  its  most 
essential  form  —  characteristics  and  peculiarities. 
These  subjective  notes  were  recorded  and  the 
numbers  of  the  ten  blots  judged  most  like  the 
norm,  and  in  their  chosen  order.  T\e  time 
required  for  a  selection  satisfactory  to  the  subject 
was  also  recorded,  and  at  the  end  of  the  selection 
the  reason  why  each  of  the  ten  had  been  preferred, 
concisely  as  possible.     The  process  in  the  case  of 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     167 

judgments  as  to  unlikeness  was  precisely  the 
same,  with  the  appropriate  change  in  intention  to 
keep  dissimilarity  instead  of  similarity  in  mind. 
The  subject  was  not  allowed  to  turn  any  blot- 
card  about  or  to  observe  the  characters  from  more 
than  one  view-point,  that,  namely,  directly  in 
front,  but  no  objection  was  made  to  orientation 
in  imagination  if  the  subject  seemed  impelled  to 
so  vary  its  meaning  to  himself.  This  was  al- 
lowed for  the  sufficient  reason  that  with  charac- 
ters so  full  of  suggestive  meaning  as  are  many 
blots  of  ink  it  is  impossible  to  prevent  their  ad- 
justments in  imagination  without  disturbing 
deeply  the  judging  and  selecting  process.  On 
this  matter  of  position  lay  one  of  the  interests  of 
the  experiments,  for,  in  the  complexity  of  psychic 
association,  to  turn  a  blot  a  few  circular  degrees 
is  often  to  make  it  seem  an  entirely  different  ob- 
ject with  quite  different  meaning  for  a  particular 
percipient. 

Altogether,  about  nine  hundred  judgments 
were  recorded  and  explained,  the  details  of  these 
explanations  from  introspection  on  a  basis  of  pre- 
cise objective  stimulus  constituting  an  interesting 
study  in  themselves,  which  here  we  shall  not 
touch  upon.     We  shall  be  content  to  indicate  the 


168  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

general  nature  of  the  judgments  as  a  whole  and 
the  principles  of  likeness  and  unlikeness  which 
these  judgments,  so  far  as  they  go,  empirically 
demonstrate  in  the  range  of  the  experiments. 

The  nature  of  the  apparatus  employed  is  ob- 
viously such  that  statistical  results  are  for  the 
most  part  of  little  use  and  photographic  reports 
of  the  judgments  made  would  have  to  be  so 
numerous  as  to  be  impracticable.  Careful  and 
extended  study  and  comparison  of  the  sets  of  blots 
selected  by  the  various  subjects,  however,  brings 
out  several  striking  facts  as  to  the  mental  process 
concerned,  the  most  interesting  of  which  are  as 
follows :  — 

The  average  size  of  these  visual  objects  was  such 
that  ocular  contour-movements  probably  were 
not  much  concerned  in  perceiving  them.  The 
projections,  to  be  sure,  tend  after  a  while  to  be 
counted  in  an  indefinite  sort  of  way  and  their 
general  shapes  and  directions  noted.  The  blots 
are,  however,  too  small  to  need  outlining  and  are 
at  once  apprehended  as  units,  just  as  are  long 
words  familiar  to  us.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  most 
conspicuous  criterion  of  likeness  and  of  unlike- 
ness alike  in  these  selections  was  what  we  may  call 
relative  massiveness.     If  the  norm-blot  happened 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     169 

to  be  noted  as  massive  or  as  attenuated  or  as  a 
mixture  of  these  two,  selection  was  made  ac- 
cordingly. This  appears  continually  in  the  re- 
sults of  the  experiments.  This  difference  was 
noted  immediately  in  practically  all  the  cases 
where  animal  associations  did  not  occur,  thus 
crowding  it  out.  It  implies,  apparently,  a  funda- 
mental criterion  in  comparison-judgments  of 
form  and  gets  its  bodily  basis  in  the  relative  num- 
ber of  retinal  local  signs  bunched  in  the  perception 
rather  than  in  ocular  contour-movements.  This 
is  apparently  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  sorts  of 
"change  of  consciousness"  which  underlie  our 
apprehension  of  likeness  and  unlikeness. 

Another  result  of  these  judgments  appears  to 
be  our  excessive  dependence  on  language-con- 
cepts for  a  clear  awareness  even  of  pure  form. 
In  almost  every  case  the  choices  had  their  criteria 
of  sameness  or  of  difference  sharply  defined  in 
words,  expressed  or  not,  of  the  subject.  How- 
ever pragmatic  in  their  life-philosophy,  all  these 
subjects  save  one  were  obviously  strong  concep- 
tualists.  They  made  no  progress  in  character- 
izing the  norm-blot  to  themselves  until  words 
had  arisen  in  their  minds  to  make  its  character 
or    characters    definite    and    sharp.     The    sensa- 


170  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

tional  basis  of  the  apperceiving  process  (a  mass  of 
retinal  local  signs  plus  a  tendency  to  contour- 
movements)  by  itself  led  to  no  clear  apperception 
of  the  blots.  Whatever  the  confused  experiences 
might  be  on  perception  of  the  blots,  there  was  no 
clear  notion  of  likeness  or  of  unlikeness,  no  de- 
cided change  in  consciousness,  until  ideation  had 
had  its  say.  This  would  probably  not  be  looked 
for  in  a  set  of  subjects  outside  of  college  influence, 
where  ideation  is  taught  too  often  as  the  end-all 
and  the  be-all  here.  Indeed,  the  only  subject 
who  claimed  to  have  a  true  feeling  of  likeness 
and  of  unlikeness  was  a  student  of  music,  naive 
enough  as  a  student  of  psychology.  He  too 
had  the  concepts  associated  with  the  respective 
blots,  but  he  avowed  a  distinct  feeling  of  similarity 
and  of  dissimilarity  which  persisted.  It  needs 
only  a  glance  at  the  sets  of  blots  chosen  by  him 
and  compared  with  those  of  others  to  show  that 
his  choices  were  by  far  the  most  satisfactory  of 
all  the  subjects'  sets.  The  explanation  is  not 
afar  off :  Even  these  simple  bluish-black  forms 
in  only  two  dimensions  have  so  many  characters 
that  to  specify  one,  or  two,  or  three,  and  com- 
pare them  by  these  leads  to  imperfect  and  mis- 
leading results.     On  the  other  hand,  the  "feel- 


IS  YOUR  THINKER"   IN   "ORDER?     171 

ing"  of  likeness  or  of  unlikeness  implies  a  much 
wider  acquaintance  with  the  blots  and  is,  there- 
fore, the  basis  of  a  better  comparison.  Related 
here  is  obviously  an  important  educational  prin- 
ciple which  he  who  runs  may  read. 

These  experiments,  again,  illustrate  the  high 
stage  which  symbolism  has  reached  in  our  social 
mental  process.  In  nearly  every  case  the  subject 
found  difficulty  in  inhibiting  the  reproductive 
imagination  of  animals,  starting  from  the  norm 
and  extending  to  the  blots  chosen  as  like  or  unlike 
it.  This  process  was  interesting,  but,  being  for- 
eign to  the  topic  in  hand,  was  excluded  because  it 
led  to  comparisons  obviously  artificial.  It  was, 
however,  often  only  with  difficulty  that  most  of 
the  subjects  could  be  induced  to  perceive  the 
characters  as  mere  chance-blots  of  ink,  as  masses 
of  black  color  filling  in  an  absolutely  meaningless 
outline  on  a  bit  of  white  paper.  If  this  inhibition 
were  not  insisted  on  (as  at  first  it  was  not)  the 
subject  compared  imagined  animals  rather  than 
blots.  One  man,  for  example,  promptly  said  the 
norm  was  a  bird  and  thereupon  chose  ten  "birds" 
flying,  standing,  roosting,  swimming,  swans  and 
eagles,  storks  and  humming-birds.  However,  it 
was  not  difficult  for  the  subjects  to  overcome  this 


172  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

symbolic  menagerie-habit,  so  to  say,  and  to  use 
other  criteria  then  those  suggested  by  the  associ- 
ative imagination. 

The  two  preceding  results  from  these  simple 
experiments  (namely,  the  highly  conceptual,  and 
highly  symbolic,  characters  of  the  class  of  per- 
ceptions here  concerned)  lead  to  suggestions  as 
to  the  subjectivity  of  likeness  as  a  mental  fact. 
One  thinks  of  Bradley's  surprising  collection  of 
"objects  that  do  not  exist"  when  one  sees  how 
various  are  the  qualities  ascribed  to  this  set  of 
objects.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  these  differ,  for  the 
most  part,  only  in  mere  outline,  by  which  they  may 
be  arranged  as  like  or  as  unlike.  One  tends  pro 
tanto  to  lose  faith  in  mere  ideas  raised  in  the 
idea-overburdened  mind  when  out  of  a  hundred 
blots  compared  with  a  norm  one  sees  seventy-one 
chosen  as  "similar"  to  it.  Three  blots  were 
chosen  by  each  of  seven  subjects,  one  by  six  sub- 
jects, six  by  five  subjects,  seven  by  four  subjects, 
ten  by  three,  sixteen  blots  by  two  subjects,  and 
twenty-six  by  only  one  subject  —  these  numbers 
applying  to  one  norm,  but  being  of  average  sizes. 
When  one  laid  out  the  sets  chosen  by  the  concept- 
criteria  the  differences  in  the  blots  often  struck 
him  more  forcibly  than  did  their  sameness.     Yet 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     173 

each  subject  had  all  the  time  he  wished  for  his 
selection  and  made  a  deliberate  choice,  as  de- 
liberate at  least  as  real  life  would  usually  allow 
of  his  making  in  comparing  actual  experiences. 
Only  very  rarely,  moreover,  would  the  actual 
objective  similarity  in  life  be  as  narrowly  confined 
as  in  the  conditions  of  these  simple  experiments. 

Within  the  number  of  those  subjects  who  chose 
their  similar  and  dissimilar  blots  by  ideal  (rather 
than  by  affective)  criteria,  there  is  a  considerable 
range  of  formal  accuracy,  dependent  on  the  ideas 
employed.  Some  ideal  criteria  were  obviously 
more  essential  than  others  and  led  to  the  selection 
of  a  set  of  blots  evidently  like  each  other  and  the 
norm.  Ideal  criteria  gave  more  accurate  results 
in  the  dissimilarity  choices  than  in  the  similarity 
choices.  This  is,  as  we  should  expect,  on  logical 
principles.  The  awareness  of  unlikeness  is  an 
easier,  if  not  a  simpler,  process  apparently  than 
that  of  likeness,  for  the  change  of  consciousness  is 
greater  and  so  easier  to  appreciate.  At  any  rate, 
the  sets  of  blots  chosen  as  unlike  the  norm  were 
much  more  certainly  unlike  it  than  were  the 
"similar"  blots  chosen  like  it. 

As  we  pass,  it  is  not  improper  to  note  the  in- 
direct  evidence  afforded   by   these   experimental 


174  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

results  of  the  motivity  and  dynamism  of  even  con- 
ceptual consciousness.  Ignoring  the  larger  ques- 
tions as  to  understanding,  there  is  here  ample 
illustration  that  such  a  cognitional  process  as 
the  comparison  of  bi-dimensional  forms  does  not 
ordinarily  find  issue  until  the  actual  word  symbolic 
of  a  concept  is  fairly  clear  in  consciousness.  If  it 
gives  the  subject  the  impression  that  it  "appears" 
out  of  his  vague  subconsciousness  (as  often  is  the 
case)  that  is  another  problem  that  need  have  here 
no  further  mention.  This  conscious-becoming  of 
an  actual  word  can  mean  nothing  else,  it  seems, 
than  the  innervation  of  those  muscles  and  glands 
whose  proper  coordination  would  utter  the  word. 
Such  dependence  of  an  intellectual  process  as 
general  as  that  of  a  judgment  of  likeness  or  of 
unlikeness  upon  the  activity  of  the  neuromus- 
cular mechanism  of  speech  is  not  any  too  fre- 
quently at  hand.  Here  it  can  be  taken  for  what 
it  is  worth  in  the  doctrine  of  the  relations  of  body 
and  mind. 

Were  we  to  summarize  and  fuse  the  notions 
inductively  suggested  by  this  little  research  we 
could  emphasize  that  judgments  of  bi-dimen- 
sional forms,  when  not  geometric,  are  more  ac- 
curately   made    by    "feeling "-criteria    than    by 


IS   YOUR   "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     175 

conceptual  criteria.  The  subjects  who  paid  most 
attention  to  the  actual  visual  sensations  (retinal 
and  oculo-motor)  as  objectified  in  looking  at  the 
blots  instead  of  thinking  about  them,  made  the 
best,  that  is,  most  similar  and  most  dissimilar, 
selections.  The  former  in  choosing  similar  forms 
kept  the  change  of  consciousness  at  a  minimum 
by  their  method,  for  they  retained  in  mind  a  more 
or  less  true  image  of  the  norm.  The  latter,  the 
conceptualists,  on  the  contrary  (but  only  after 
innervating  for  the  word),  replaced  the  original 
visual  image  with  a  more  or  less  partial  concept 
and  repeated  it  in  their  choices,  but  more  or  less 
forgot  meanwhile  the  shape  of  the  norm.  The 
practical  application  of  this  principle,  familiar  to 
psychologists,  to  affairs,  for  example  in  the  taking 
and  evaluation  of  evidence  in  legal  trials,  should 
not  be  further  delayed,  especially  since  rather 
numerous  researches  along  various  similar  lines 
(that  of  Cattell,  for  example)  have  all  pointed  to 
the  same  really  important  fact  that  what  we  see 
or  hear  or  feel  is  often  determined  as  much  from 
within  as  from  without  ourselves. 

Another  result  of  this  work  that  may  be  men- 
tioned is  its  emphasis  on  the  practical  value 
of    affective    impressions    in    comparison     with 


176  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

knowledge  that  is  purely  cognitional.  It  is  out- 
side of  the  experimental  results  somewhat,  of 
course,  but  it  may  be  strongly  believed  that  this 
principle  is  continually  acting  often  to  our  dis- 
advantage, and  especially  in  education,  in  our 
relations  with  our  generally  experienced  environ- 
ment, and  with  each  other.  As  demonstrably 
here,  the  learning  mind,  through  too  little  atten- 
tion to  this  matter,  is  led  frequently  to  errors 
that  might  be  often  avoided  did  it  allow  greater 
and  more  nearly  natural  freedom  to  the  sensational 
and  especially  to  the  affective  aspects  of  our  men- 
tal process.  In  education  we  are  undoubtedly 
apt  to  overdo  ideation  and  to  underdo  the  affec- 
tive phases  of  the  developing  mind.  Greater 
objective  activity  in  the  free  realms  of  feeling 
and  less  reliance  on  the  "apperception-mass" 
would  surely  lead  the  child  to  see  things  as  they 
are  rather  than  as  a  more  or  less  formal  and 
hereditary  association  of  ideas  compels  him  to 
think  them. 

The  one  other  result  that  appears  most  note- 
worthy of  those  suggested  by  this  work  is  its 
evidence  for  the  neuromuscular  dynamic  "basis" 
of  conceptualization  —  evidence  coming,  it  is 
true,    perhaps    not    less    from  within    than  from 


IS  YOUR  "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     177 

without !  These  chance-characters  as  a  rule  have 
in  them  a  minimum  certainty  of  conceptual 
symbolism  —  that  is,  on  the  average,  they  are 
about  as  far  away  in  shape  from  language-symbols 
as  any  forms  that  could  be  devised.  None  the 
less,  as  we  have  seen,  they  usually  start  some 
conceptual  associations,  more  often,  on  the  whole, 
than  trains  of  imagination,  and  they  start  these 
associations,  so  to  say,  without  a  push,  without 
giving  them  more  than  the  needful  minimum  of 
bias  in  any  one  direction  —  they  introduce  the 
energy  but  do  not  guide  its  course.  Under  these 
circumstances  the  association-time  and  especially 
the  wholly  subconscious  start  is  very  long  often- 
times. Often,  as  we  have  seen,  the  consciousness 
was  to  introspection  a  mere  confused  and  scarcely 
conscious  jumble  of  more  or  less  unpleasant  strains 
in  and  about  the  head,  eventuating,  however, 
sooner  or  later  in  a  word  clearly  thought  or  even 
spoken  aloud.  In  the  usual  form  of  word-associ- 
ation measurements,  in  the  formerly  so  numerous 
researches  on  reaction-time,  the  symbol  used  as 
a  stimulus  was  either  a  printed  or  a  spoken  lan- 
guage-symbol and  therefore  in  the  closest  cerebral 
connection  with  the  muscular  innervations,  etc., 
of  language-expression  as  developed  in  the  brain 


178  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

when  the  individual  learned  to  understand  and 
speak  and  write.  In  these  cases,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  stimuli  were  no  such  familiar  symbols, 
practically  part  of  the  language-expression  mech- 
anism, but  were  rather  almost  unrelated  stimuli, 
abstract,  so  to  say,  rather  than  concrete.  None 
the  less,  after  a  time  the  speech-innervations  were 
suitably  set  going. 

It  is  hard  to  believe  that  this  difficulty  of 
language-association  under  these  circumstances  is 
other  than  the  difficulty  of  making  "new"  path- 
ways, combinations,  in  the  expression-neurones 
of  the  brain.  This  means,  probably,  each  time 
a  new  struggle  through  unaccustomed  innerva- 
tions of  speech-muscles.  There  is  apparently  no 
other  neurologic  basis  for  the  confusion  and  the 
delay.  These  last  were  both  experiences  un- 
pleasant to  the  subject  and  tended,  therefore,  to 
be  eliminated  by  repetition  and  habit,  if  it  were 
possible ;  yet  they  were  neither  eliminated  nor 
much  shortened,  at  least  within  the  limits  of 
these  experiments.  Neurologically  this  is  in- 
teresting, this  slow  and  unpleasant  fumbling 
around  of  a  sense-impression  among  the  infinite 
possibilities  of  cortical  (and  nuclear  ?)  routes. 
It  is  interesting,  too,  in  a  broader  way,  philological 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?    179 

and  psychological,  in  so  far  as  it  suggests  that,  in 
the  human  mind  as  of  old  in  the  great  empire,  all 
roads,  even  the  most  unlikely  trail  of  a  chance 
ink-blot  form,  lead  sooner  or  later  into  the  (mostly 
muscular  and  epithelial)  innervations  of  language- 
expression  —  the  one  function  characteristic  of 
humanity.  As  has  already  been  suggested,  these 
stimuli  were  as  far  as  possible  from  language- 
symbols  of  any  language,  and  the  outcome  of  the 
association-process  was,  therefore,  all  the  more 
striking  and  suggestive,  however  inferior  the 
determination  of  likeness  and  unlikeness  by  this 
process  as  compared  with  the  few  cases  where 
the  cerebral  association  remained  of  the  affective 
aspect. 

Recent  advancement  in  biochemistry  and  es- 
pecially in  neuro-metabolism  has  made  possible 
suggestions  more  definite  by  far  than  ever  before 
as  the  real  nature  in  scientific  terms  of  these 
innumerable  influences  darting  through  the  cere- 
bral maze  that  psychologically  we  discuss  as  sub- 
conscious associations.  However  interesting, 
however,  such  speculations  may  be,  the  broader 
questions  as  to  the  relationship  of  mental  "ener- 
gies" to  the  forces  we  know  as  chemic  and  electric 
must  outweigh  in  interest  the  purely  physiologic 


180  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

problem.  How  can  we  designate  for  proximate 
scientific  use  the  ultimate  nature  of  the  neuro- 
gram,  the  memory-trace,  the  endless  and  perhaps 
ineffaceable  "vestigia"  of  ever  unique  experi- 
ences? And  if  we  could  and  did  "connote" 
them,  should  we  not  forthwith  find  it  quite 
impossible  to  discriminate  the  energies  we  de- 
scribed from  the  thing  we  speak  of  as  conscious- 
ness, with  its  sthenic  and  asthenic  conditions,  its 
dynamogeny,  its  varying  qualities  and  quantities 
and  durations,  and  the  other  numerous  char- 
acters which  it  shares  with  the  "somewhats"  that 
even  the  avowed  dualist  (if  he  truly  exists  still) 
speaks  of  as  energies?  In  fine,  then,  why  do  we 
not  give  up  this  two-faced  terminology  of  a  by- 
gone time  and  speak  the  straight  language  that 
leads  to  clear  thinking  and  to  real  knowledge  in 
terms  that  are  ultimate?  To  the  writer  it  is 
unknown  what  proportion  in  general  of  the 
psychologically  informed  consider  that  ideation 
(as  well  as  feeling  and  willing)  is  immediately 
inter-knit  with  ("dependent  on")  the  innerva- 
tion of  the  muscles  and  glands  that  would  express 
the  concerned  ideas.  One  would  almost  assume 
that  nearly  all  psychologists  who  know  their  phys- 
iology fairly  well  (they  are  none  too  numerous) 


IS  YOUR  "THINKER"  IN  ORDER?     181 

would  nowadays  thus  presume  the  basis  of 
thought,  for  gradually  the  psychophysiologic 
chasm  is  narrowing,  or,  at  least,  many  firm 
bridges  are  being  thrown  across  it;  perhaps 
before  we  fully  realize  it  we  shall  look  in  vain  for 
the  chasm  itself ! 

However  all  this  may  be  (the  "physiology" 
of  ideation  and  thought),  here  in  this  research  is 
adequate  evidence,  so  far  as  it  goes,  that  an  idea 
comes  plainly  "into  the  mind",  that  it  becomes 
clearly  conscious,  only  with  definite  innervation 
and  more  or  less  deliberate  and  complete  occurrence 
of  the  dynamic  muscular  movements  that  would 
express  the  concept  in  words.  One  can  dimly 
feel  the  similarity  or  dissimilarity  between  two 
chance  shapes,  but  in  most  persons,  too  many, 
perhaps,  the  feeling  is  useless  and  even  oppres- 
sive, until  definitely  expressible  in  neuromuscular 
terms  more  definite  and  distinct  than  those  of  a 
feeling-tone  :   that  is,  articulated. 

And  this  "articulation"  in  its  turn  depends 
upon  a  phase  of  neuro-musculo-glandular  skill 
just  as  in  the  opposite  direction,  speaking  logically, 
thought  depends  on  comparisons,  that  is,  to  say 
it  once  more,  on  determinations  of  likeness  and  of 
unlikeness. 


182  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

r  Professor  J.  H.  Bair,  of  Philadelphia,  sets  out 
the  reasoning  process,  systematic  thought,  in  a 
simple  and  untechnical  way  which  relieves  logic 
of  some  of  its  familiar  awe  and  unnaturalness  : l  — 

"It  is  true  that,  even  logic,  in  order  that  it  may 
develop  the  mind  in  an  efficient  manner,  must  be  based 
on  concrete  data.  The  order  of  the  development 
toward  thought  is :  first  the  child  has  impressions. 
Soon  it  recognizes  likenesses  and  differences.  The 
faculty  of  perception,  recognition  and  discrimination 
appears.  The  child  begins  to  associate  and  classify  the 
likenesses.  Assimilation  or  apperception  takes  place. 
When  it  classifies  the  likenesses,  i.e.,  assorts  them  accord- 
ing to  their  characteristics,  labeling  is  inevitable  and 
thus  the  concept  is  formed. 

"Every  time  the  child  puts  an  object  in  a  class  he 
passes  judgment.  'This  is  a  pencil.'  He  mentally  as- 
similates this  object  with  a  class.  Each  class  of  objects 
has  a  boundary  drawn  around  it,  and  in  passing  judgment 
the  child  decides  whether  the  object  belongs  inside  that 
boundary  or  not.  Judgment  involves,  therefore,  per- 
ception and  discrimination.  Judgment  is  unavoidably 
exercised  where  perception  and  discrimination  take 
place,  and  discrimination  and  perception  are  impossible 
except  with  reference  to  the  objective.  In  formal 
exercises  of  judgment,  discrimination  and  perception  are 
not  exercised  and  this  shows  the  futility  of  working 
beyond  the  bounds  of  concrete  experience  with  children. 

"Reasoning  is  but  one  step  in  advance  of  judgment 
and  implies  judgment  and  all  that  judgment  implies. 

1  University  of  Colorado  Investigations,  III,  2,  April,  1906. 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"  IN  ORDER?    183 

And  so  if  it  can  be  shown  that  judgment  formally 
trained  is  less  fruitful  than  when  developed  incidentally 
in  the  ordinary  processes  of  observation  is  it  not  equally 
true  that  training  in  observation  is  the  best  ground- 
work for  reasoning  ? 

"  If  we  take  the  following  illustration  of  reasoning : 
'All  men  are  mortal.  John  is  a  man.  Therefore  John 
is  mortal.'  Is  not  the  whole  process  a  case  of  refined 
observation?  This  can  be  illustrated  by  circles. 
Mortal  beings  have  a  large  boundary,  within  which  are 
a  great  many  groups  having  smaller  boundaries.  One 
of  these  groups  is  man.  Now  if  John  falls  within  the 
circle  of  mankind,  which  fact  is  ascertained  by  judgment 
through  comparison  then  he  must  also  fall  within  the 
larger  circle  mortal  beings.  The  point  I  wish  to  make 
in  this  analysis  is  that  teachers  should  make  it  their 
primary  object  first,  to  stock  the  mind  with  facts  to 
develop  the  power  of  observation  and  discrimination 
which  are  fundamentally  involved  in  all  higher  forms 
of  thought  and  secondly,  where  the  higher  faculties 
are  exercised,  to  confine  their  activity  within  the  realm 
of  the  stock  of  facts  in  the  mind.  If  this  point  is  com- 
plied with  in  primary  education  it  is  certain  that  the 
results  will  be  satisfactory.  .  .  . 

"The  fundamental  reason  why  children  fail  in  their 
power  to  construct  is  not  because  the  logical  faculty  is 
immature.  But  it  is  a  fact  of  development  that  the 
logical  processes  do  not  function  efficiently  until  the 
mind  has  a  stock  of  information  which  constitutes  the 
material  upon  which  the  logical  faculty  can  work.  The 
savage,  or  ignorant  person,  as  well  as  the  child  ofttimes 
arrive  at  conclusions  which  are  invalid  because  their 
concepts  are  indefinite  and  their  stock  of  information 


184  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

limited.  The  primitive  man,  when  he  hears  wind 
whistling  through  the  boughs  of  a  tree,  thinks  there  is  a 
man  or  a  spirit  up  there  making  the  sound.  This  con- 
clusion he  reaches  because  of  his  notion  that  sound  is 
always  produced  by  animate  beings.  To  modify  and 
to  improve  his  reasoning  his  information  must  be 
exact  and  his  ideas  changed. 

"The  fact  that  in  the  Middle  Ages  arguments  were 
advanced  and  conclusions  supported  which  are  no  more 
tenable  is  no  evidence  that  in  these  days  the  reasoning 
power  is  more  subtly  developed.  Quite  to  the  contrary 
the  thinking  powers  of  modern  scholars  are  probably 
less  exercised  and  developed  than  those  of  those  early 
thinkers.  What  makes  present  day  thinking  more 
efficient  is  the  fact  that  for  several  generations  the 
students  have  devoted  themselves  to  observing  and 
collecting  facts,  not  to  getting  acquainted  with  nature. 
A  century  ago  the  whole  spirit  of  science  was  to  gather 
facts  from  nature  first  hand. '  Earlier  thinkers  had 
many  arbitrary  notions  and  preformed  ideas  about 
things.  When  the  ideas  upon  which  a  conclusion  is 
based  are  not  right  no  amount  of  intellectual  legerde- 
main will  make  the  conclusion  right. 

"To  lay  the  foundation  for  sound  thinking  the  power 
of  observation  and  discrimination  must  be  constantly 
exercised  and  developed.  Childhood  is  for  training  the 
senses.  Its  principal  school  exercises  should  be  observ- 
ing, examining,  handling,  comparing  and  reproducing. 
The  foundation  for  the  intellect  is  laid  in  this  manner." 

This  or  something  similar  assuredly  is  the 
essence  of  thought.    It  is  the  most  productive 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"  IN  ORDER?     185 

of  processes  because  it  alone  of  all  mental  processes 
produces  something  new  and  rational.  Ingenuity, 
originality,  invention,  and  discovery  in  part 
rest  often  wholly  on  this  simple  ( ?)  process  of  in- 
ferring something  from  the  results  obtained  by 
comparing  two  things.  If  love  "makes  the 
world  go  round  ",  thought  makes  it  go  around  its 
orbit,  makes  it  revolve  and  so  advance.  If  love 
makes  the  days  worth  while,  thought,  as  well  as 
love,  helps  so  to  make  the  years. 

Let  us  not  forget  the  educationally  important 
matter  of  the  complexes  of  thought  and  imagina- 
tion and  feeling  already  discussed  in  the  treat- 
ment on  the  imagination.  The  mind  works  as 
much  in  thinking  as  it  does  in  feeling,  or  in  willing 
on  the  symbolic  plan.  Morton  Prince,  in  his  en- 
lightening "The  Unconscious",  has  summarized 
certain  of  the  conditions  of  complex-  or  symbol- 
formation,  memorizing,  and  recall,  in  a  way  well 
worth  quotation :  — 

"Though  the  main  teleological  function  of  the  un- 
conscious, so  far  as  it  represents  acquired  dispositions,  is 
to  provide  the  material  for  conscious  memory  and 
conscious  processes,  in  order  that  the  organism  may  be 
consciously  guided  in  its  reactions  by  experience,  yet 
under  certain  conditions  neurographic  residua  ["brain- 
traces"]  can  function  as  a  subconscious  process  which 


186  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

may  be  unconscious,  i.e.,  without  being  accompanied 
by  conscious  equivalents.  The  latter  were  classed  as  a 
sub-order  of  subconscious  processes.  We  saw  reason 
for  believing  that  any  neurogram  deposited  by  life's 
experience  can,  given  certain  other  factors,  thus  func- 
tion subsconsciously,  either  autonomously  or  as  a 
factor  in  a  larger  mechanism  embracing  both  con- 
scious and  unconscious  elements;  and  that  this  was 
peculiarly  the  case  when  the  neurogram  was  organized 
with  an  emotional  disposition  or  instinct.  The  impulsive 
force  of  the  latter  gives  energy  to  the  former  and  enables 
it  to  be  an  active  factor  in  determining  behaviour. 
The  organism  may  then  be  subconsciously  governed 
in  its  reactions  to  the  environment.  .  .  . 

"We  found  evidence  showing  that  a  conserved  idea 
may  undergo  subconscious  incubation  and  elaboration, 
and  that  subconscious  processes  may  acquire  a  marked 
degree  of  autonomy,  may  determine  or  inhibit  conscious 
processes  of  thought,  solve  problems,  enter  into  con- 
flicts, and  in  various  modes  produce  all  sorts  of  psycho- 
logical phenomena,  (hallucinations,  impulsive  phe- 
nomena, aboulia,  amnesia,  dissociation  of  personality, 
etc.)  .  .  . 

"Evidence  has  been  adduced  to  show  that  life's 
experiences,  and  therefore  acquired  dispositions,  tend 
to  become  organized  into  groups.  The  latter,  termed 
for  descriptive  purposes  neurograms,  thereby  acquire  a 
functional  unity ;  and  they  may  become  compounded 
into  larger  functioning  groups,  or  complexes,  and  still 
larger  systems  of  neurograms.  Whether  their  origin 
is  remembered  or  not  they  become  a  part  of  the  person- 
ality. Such  complexes  and  systems  play  an  important 
part    by    determining    mental    and    bodily    behavior. 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"  IN  ORDER?    187 

Amongst  other  things  they  tend  to  determine  the  points 
of  view,  the  attitudes  of  mind,  the  individual  and  social 
conscience,  judgments,  and  the  like,  and,  as  large  sys- 
tems, may  become  'sides  to  one's  character.'" 

This  is  the  very  latest  scientific  word  on  thought 
and  ideas  as  they  persist  in  the  mind,  but  for  the 
most  part  just  outside  of  the  conscious  process, 
immersed  deep  in  that  truly  "Wundtian  myth", 
the  stream  of  mind.  This  store  of  ideas, 
of  thoughts,  unlike  most  other  stores,  loses  noth- 
ing by  being  drawn  upon.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
can  be  added  to  indefinitely  without  any  crowding, 
for  the  useless  material  is  continually  being  put 
into  the  scrap-pile  —  forgotten. 

In  discussing  learning  to  think,  there  are  six 
practical  points  to  be  noted :  (1)  a  realization  of 
the  necessity  and  the  joy  of  thought  to  education 
and  to  success ;  (2)  development  of  interests  as 
various  as  possible,  provided  they  be  not  too 
diverse  and  too  numerous  at  the  same  time; 
(3)  an  abundance  of  clear  ideas  ("concepts"), 
especially  of  relationship;  (4)  a  habit  of  con- 
centrated attention  along  more  or  less  "rational" 
or  logical  lines ;  (5)  a  thought-habit  developed 
by  practice  (writing,  debating,  reflection),  and 
(6)  the  opportunity  for  thought,  (time  and  rela- 
tive solitude). 


188  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

The  realization  of  the  necessity  and  the  delight  of 
thought.  The  average  boy  and  girl  has  no  way  of 
learning  that  what  counts  most  is  this  thought, 
this  initiative,  this  imagination.  Experience  alone 
(sometimes  precept !)  will  prove  this  to  him. 
But  observe  the  advertisements  of  the  efficiency 
schools !  Without  a  doubt  experience  shows 
overwhelmingly  that  just  this  chiefly  makes  the 
difference  between  a  narrow  life  of  wages  and  the 
broader  life  supplied  by  a  salary.  Everyone  has 
more  or  less  information,  but  only  a  few  use  it 
in  thought  and  so  do  things  which  are  new,  or  do 
old  things  in  new  ways  —  which  is  the  next  best 
accomplishment. 

Development  of  interests.  In  a  previous  chap- 
ter the  absolute  necessity  of  interest  for  learning 
has  been  pointed  out.  The  necessity  is  still 
surer  for  thought,  for  true  wisdom,  for  real  edu- 
cation. If  we  develop  interest  in  any  subject, 
the  subconscious  will  think  it  out  by  association, 
by  the  aid  of  the  imagination,  if  given  a  chance, 
while  we  are  doing  something  else.  This  in- 
volves, as  we  have  seen  repeatedly,  an  affect  or 
feeling-tone  to  furnish  the  motive  power. 

An  abundance  of  clear  ideas,  especially  ideas  of 
relationship.     The   relation   of    language   is   im- 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"  IN  ORDER?     189 

mediate  here,  as  has  been  pointed  out  recently  by 
Dr.  A.  A.  Berle,  in  the  second  chapter  of  his 
interesting  "Teaching  in  the  Home",  already 
quoted  in  the  discussion  of  books  and  their  edu- 
cative use.  Harvard  College  has  recently  made 
an  extensive  investigation  tending  to  develop 
the  study  of  English  along  this  basal  line  of  inti- 
mate relationship  to  our  primal  and  dominant 
intelligence.  Ideas  of  relation  are  especially 
essential ;  by  their  very  nature  they  tend  ac- 
tively to  associate  educatively,  and  their  elab- 
oration should  be  a  systematic  part  of  all  school 
work.  The  habit  of  the  use  of  thesauri  (dic- 
tionaries of  synonyms  and  antonyms)  is  easily 
acquired,  and  there  is  an  amazing  interest  in  the 
relations  of  verbs,  nouns,  adjectives,  and  adverbs 
—  things,  their  qualities,  what  they  do,  and  how. 
Knowledge  about  these  very  relations  is  essential. 
Especially  important,  then,  are  these  books  of 
synonyms  and  antonyms.  When  the  habit  of 
using  them  has  been  acquired,  they  do  much  to 
develop  thought,  as  well  as  clearness  of  expres- 
sion and  literary  style;  they  help  the  mind  to 
work  logically  and  systematically. 

For  emphasis  it  is  worth  while  repeating  that 
words  are  dynamic  and  make  up  language  and, 


190  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

moreover,  they  serve  to  connect  it  with  the  brain 
and  thereby  with  the  remainder  of  the  body  and 
the  rest  of  the  individual's  kinetic  world.  Words, 
then,  are  the  indispensable  handles  of  our  human 
thinking,  symbols  of  our  energy-expense,  and 
so  of  our  humanity  itself.  The  closeness  and 
the  depth  of  this  dynamic  relation  are  worth 
strong  emphasis,  for  its  general  educative  im- 
portance is  supreme. 

Professor  Max  Miiller  was  undoubtedly  the 
farthest-  and  deepest-seeing  of  all  who  have 
searched  the  depths  of  human  speech.  It  is  to 
his  writings  the  reader  may  best  turn  who  wishes 
a  knowledge  of  the  philosophy  of  words.  "We 
arrive  in  the  end",  says  he,  "at  roots,  and  every 
one  of  these  expresses  a  general,  not  an  individual, 
idea.  Every  name,  if  we  analyze  it,  contains  a 
predicate  by  which  the  object  to  which  the  name 
applies  was  known."  ("Science  of  Language", 
London,  1861,  Vol.  I,  Page  356.)  Language-root; 
general  idea ;  predicate ;  bodily  action  relating 
the  personality  to  its  kinetic  environment,  thus 
becomes  the  logical  series  of  ideas  linking  speech, 
skill,  and  intelligence.  Language  is  the  dynamic 
index  of  a  world  of  energy  in  relation  to  ourselves, 
and    the    kinesthetic    sensations    are    the    more 


IS  YOUR  "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     191 

immediate  personal  and  mental  index  of  this 
dynamic  relationship. 

Here  once  more,  and  more  explicitly  still,  per- 
haps, the  reader  may  see  for  himself  the  neces- 
sity of  what  we  have  termed  "skill"  (complete 
bodily  control)  for  clear  thinking.  Here  obviously 
is  the  basis,  or  part  of  it,  of  the  undoubted  heredity 
of  talent  "mental"  as  well  as  "bodily."  Normal 
living  fosters  skill  because  right-living  means 
good  health,  plenty  of  sleep,  abundant  nourishing 
food ;  and  the  generations  hand  down  its  results. 
And  skill,  in  our  sense,  for  the  reasons  suggested 
just  above,  fosters  language;  and  therefore 
thought;  and  therefore  intelligence;  and  there- 
fore, generally,  real  success ;  and  therefore,  finally, 
happiness.  This  concatenation,  this  chain  of 
life,  is  as  certain  as  the  great  sun's  energy  in  our 
muscles,  and  physical  education  will  one  day 
learn  to  make  it  clear  and  certain  to  everyone. 

The  habit  of  concentrated  attention  is  necessary 
in  thought.  This  concentration  should  be  for 
short  periods  along  lines  not  disagreeable  to  the 
human  rationality.  Concentration  sinks  ideas 
more  deeply  into  the  brain  —  how  we  do  not 
know  as  yet  and  cannot  imagine.  Attention, 
either   reflex   or   voluntary,    however   exactly   it 


192  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

may  act,  is  certainly  essential,  but  save  in  cases 
of  exceptional  individual  interest,  such  as  that 
in  discoveries,  emergencies,  inventions,  and  the 
like,  attention  can  be  concentrated  properly  for 
only  short  periods  of  time.  Professor  W.  H. 
Pyle,  of  the  University  of  Missouri,  as  a  result  of 
experiments  on  practice  work,  in  using  a  devised 
set  of  characters  instead  of  the  ordinary  letters, 
found  that  the  adult's  ideal  period  for  concen- 
trated effort  of  attention  is  only  thirty  minutes. 
He  says  : *  — 

"The  object  of  this  investigation  was  to  determine 
the  proper  length  of  period  and  the  proper  distribution 
of  periods  in  drill  or  habit-formation.  The  experiments 
were  begun  in  February,  1910,  and  have  been  continued 
to  the  present  time ;  the  subjects  —  at  all  times  as 
many  as  eight  or  ten  —  were  mostly  seniors  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Missouri,  and  the  practice  has  been  in  type- 
writing, shorthand,  memory  work  and  in  learning  to 
write  in  arbitrary  characters  instead  of  with  the  ordi- 
nary alphabet.  The  method  was  to  give  the  subjects 
practice  for  a  certain  length  of  time,  requiring  all  to 
use  the  same  procedure,  then  the  subjects  were  divided 
into  two  groups.  One  group  was  then  given  practice 
using  the  same  procedure  as  before,  while  the  other 
group  used  the  method  then  being  tested.  The  first 
or  control  served  to  give  a  measure  of  ability  of  the 

1  Paper  before  the  American  Psychological  Association  in  Cleve- 
land, 1913. 


IS  YOUR  "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?     193 

subjects  when  using  the  same  method.  After  this 
method  was  perfected,  the  only  material  used  was  the 
arbitrary  alphabets  which  seemed  best  to  serve  the 
purposes  of  the  experiment. 

"The  results,  in  brief,  are  as  follows :  On  the  whole, 
30  minutes  seems  to  be  the  best  length  of  practice 
period.  In  some  cases,  shorter  periods  seem  a  trifle 
more  advantageous,  especially  in  the  early  stage  of 
practice  or  habituation.  But,  generally  speaking,  one 
gets  ample  returns  in  habituation  for  practicing  up  to 
the  point  of  fatigue,  which,  in  our  experiments  proves 
to  be  30  or  40  minutes  for  most  subjects.  Eighty 
minutes,  the  longest  period  used,  proved  decidedly 
disadvantageous,  especially  in  the  early  stage  of  habitua- 
tion. Generally  speaking,  daily  practice  seems  to  give 
better  returns  than  the  same  number  of  periods  dis- 
tributed on  alternate  days  or  in  twice-a-day  periods. 
However,  there  is  some  evidence  that  in  the  early  stage 
of  habituation,  the  second  practice  on  the  same  day 
gives  good  returns  and  that,  later  on,  alternate  days  may 
be  the  best  distribution.  While  practicing  twice  a  day 
does  not  give,  on  the  average,  as  good  returns  as  once  a 
day,  if  we  count  the  same  number  of  periods,  it  gives 
much  better  returns  if  we  count  the  number  of  days,  the 
subjects,  of  course,  having  twice  as  much  practice  as 
those  working  once  a  day.  That  is  to  say,  if  one  does 
not  count  the  time,  it  pays  to  practice  twice  a  day,  at 
least  till  we  gain  considerable  efficiency." 

Professor  Daniel  Starch,  of  the  University  of 
Wisconsin,  in  1910,  studied  the  comparative 
economy  of  different  periods  of  work,  and  he 
summarizes  his  findings  thus ;  — * 


194  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

"The  purpose  of  this  experiment  was  to  determine  the 
relation  of  the  length  and  distribution  of  periods  of 
work  to  economy  in  learning.  The  learning  consisted 
in  associating  numbers  with  letters.  These  associations 
were  formed  while  transcribing  prose  into  numbers. 

"One  group  of  persons  worked  10  minutes  at  a  time 
twice  a  day  for  six  days.  The  second  group  worked 
20  minutes  at  a  time  once  a  day  for  six  days.  The  third 
group  worked  40  minutes  at  a  time  every  other  day  for 
six  days. 

"The  records  show  that  the  10-minute  group  im- 
proved more  rapidly  than  the  20-minute  group  and  the 
latter  improved  much  more  rapidly  than  the  40-minute 
group.  The  20-minute  group  transcribed  on  the  aver- 
age 31  more  letters  in  every  five  minutes  than  the 
40-minute  group  and  the  10-minute  group  transcribed 
on  the  average  ten  more  letters  in  every  five  minutes 
than  the  20-minute  group." 

Thus  we  see  that  ideas  "stick"  best  when  they 
are  impressed  in  periods  of  only  thirty  minutes 
or  less,  two  or  three  times  a  day.  We  may  use 
this  as  a  rule  for  thinking  —  it  means  the  im- 
portance of  keeping  the  brain  always  rested.  This 
is  far  more  essential  than  the  saving  of  mere 
time.  Muscles,  especially  in  gross  masses,  may 
be  fatigued  without  nervous  harm,  (in  fact  this 
kind  of  fatigue  makes  for  sound,  restful  sleep) 
but  never  the  nerves.  There  are  nine  thousand 
million  neurons  or  nerve-units,  weighing  only  a 


IS  YOUR  "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?    195 

few  grams  altogether,  in  the  human  cortex :  from 
this  may  be  seen  how  minute  and  subtly  delicate 
they  are.  We  should  not  fail  to  appreciate  this 
fear  of  their  easy  liability  to  fatigue,  for  it  is  a 
very  real  educational  matter.  At  the  same  time 
the  brain  may  be  trained  so  we  need  not  coddle 
it.  Most  people  undoubtedly  do  coddle  their 
brains,  but  usually  from  human  laziness,  not 
because  deeply  wise  in  hygiene ! 

Habituation  to  the  thinking  process.  Habit 
makes  thinking  much  easier  than  it  is  at  first. 
Habituation  makes  thought  a  continuous  sub- 
conscious process.  Just  as  we  know  that  worry 
is  worse  for  the  health  than  an  occasional  fright ; 
and  just  as  a  steady  drinker  suffers  more  patho- 
logic harm  than  the  man  who  goes  off  on  an 
occasional  drunken  spree ;  so,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  continuous  use  of  thought  most  impresses  the 
brain.  The  habit  of  learning-interest  must  be 
acquired ;  but  this  mental  attitude  soon  be- 
comes more  or  less  permanent.  Habituations  of 
all  kinds,  of  course,  are  more  or  less  accumulative. 
It  is  "the  first  step  that  counts"  we  have  often 
heard,  and  all  habit  grows  with  what  it  feeds 
upon.  Thought  is  a  habit,  subconscious  like 
all  of  them.     In  order  to  acquire  the  thinking- 


196  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

habit,  other  habits  may  have  to  be  bent 1  or  even, 
sometimes,  broken,  (a)  The  general  principle  is 
that  in  proportion  to  the  stability  of  the  nervous 
system  of  the  individual,  according  to  age,  sex, 
or  vigor,  may  a  habit  be  suddenly  bent  down  out 
of  existence,  (b)  A  second  process  of  displacing 
a  habit  is  busy  normality.  And  a  third,  (c)  is 
replacement  with  some  other  more  useful  habit. 
In  general,  students  who  are  apt  to  read  these 
pages  can  break  short  off  whatever  habits  con- 
flict with  the  thinking  or  the  study  habit. 

A  sixth  and  last  element  in  easy  thinking  is 
opportunity  for  thought,  in  time  and  in  relative 
solitude.  Many  of  us  are  "too  busy"  (but  with 
far  less  productive  things)  really  to  live  or  really 
to  think.  We  should  make  time,  make  solitude,  for 
thought.  People  are  often  much  too  continuously 
together,  especially  young  people.  Each  in- 
dividual is  separate,  and  occasionally  requires 
individual  separate  self-communion.  Most  of 
us  should  room  alone,  or  else  manage  in  some 
way  to  spend  considerable  time  alone  in  the 
forest,  along  the  seashore  or  brookside,  or  even 

1  See  for  a  recent  discussion  of  habit-bending  G.  V.  N.  Dearborn : 
"Habit  and  Malocclusion",  Medical  Record,  New  York,  88,  18,  3  Oct. 
1915,  727-732;  and  "An  Ideal  Gift  for  Your  Children",  American 
Physical  Education  Review,  XXI,  7,  1916. 


IS  YOUR  "THINKER"  IN  ORDER?     197 

in  our  own  rooms.  The  gentle  exercise  of  a 
stroll  or  of  a  slow  bicycle  ride  which  requires 
little  attention  for  itself  is  an  ideal  stimulant  and 
occasion  for  thinking  —  unless  the  attention  wan- 
ders outwardly  too  much.  The  time  to  be  alone 
now  and  then  should  be  had  somehow.  Often- 
times schools  are  too  crowded  to  allow  their  stu- 
dents to  think.  We  can  properly  afford,  even  as 
a  matter  of  dollars  and  cents,  to  take  an  extra 
year  in  school,  if  by  doing  so  we  can  learn  to 
think;  the  time  so  used  is  a  rich  and  certain 
investment,  not  an  expense.  In  default  of  a 
better  time,  a  half  hour  after  waking  and  before 
rising  is  a  good  time  in  which  to  think.  Indeed, 
many  people  have  their  most  productive  and 
original  thoughts  occur  to  them  at  just  this 
time  in  the  morning,  early,  after  a  good  night's 
brain  rest,  for  the  unconscious  grist  of  the  night 
then  tends  to  become  conscious.  The  nervous 
system  will  generally  be  found  thoughtful  if  an 
opportunity  be  given  it. 

This  advice  to  make  thought-time  at  any  cost  is 
well  considered,  not  an  idle  notion.  It  is  wholly 
practicable  and  expedient.  In  fact,  it  is  very 
often  a  matter  of  dollars  and  cents  and  of  ad- 
vancement, and  not  one  only  of  developing  our 


198  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

soul  and  personality,  which  much  of  the  world 
has  not  yet  learned  to  value  at  its  worth.  Robert 
Browning's  familiar  three  stanzas  express  this  so 
well  that  we  repeat  them  here.  They  are  from 
"Rabbi  Ben  Ezra",  a  poem  of  efficiency,  of 
human  life,  as  well  as  of  God :  — 

"Not  on  the  vulgar  mass 
Called  'work'  must  sentence  pass, 
Things  done  that  took  the  eye  and  had  the  price ; 
O'er  which,  from  level  stand, 
The  low  world  laid  its  hand, 
Found  straightway  to  its  mind,  could  value  in  a  trice : 

But  all  the  world's  coarse  thumb 

And  fingers  failed  to  plumb, 

So  passed  in  making  up  the  main  account ; 

All  instincts  immature, 

All  purposes  unsure, 

That  weighed  not  as  his  work,  yet  swelled  the  man's  amount : 

Thoughts  hardly  to  be  packed 

Into  a  narrow  act, 

Fancies  that  broke  through  language  and  escaped ; 

All  I  could  never  be, 

All,  men  ignored  in  me, 

This,  I  was  worth  to  God,  whose  wheel  the  pitcher  shaped." 

Thought,  like  almost  nothing  else  in  the  whole 
world,  makes  for  both  of  these,  for  human  per- 
sonality, and  for  success  as  measured  by  dollars 
and  cents. 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"  IN  ORDER?    199 

Rules  for  thinking  are  wholly  unnecessary  even 
to  a  young  student.  The  normal  human  mind, 
always  knows  how,  as  part  of  its  normality. 
Possibly  no  other  animal  knows  how,  but  man 
knows  how,  and  so  do  all  normal  boys  and  girls. 
The  only  explicit  rule  for  thinking  is,  it  seems, 
Acquire  the  habit!  In  plain  language  it  is  laziness, 
that  more  than  anything  else  prevents  this  habit 
of  thought,  for  with  all  its  interest  and  delight 
to  learn  to  think,  to  become  a  thinker,  is  not  al- 
ways easy  in  this  resistless  world  which  never 
stops  its  hurry.  Some  really  do  not  know  how  to 
think,  but  only,  we  may  be  certain,  because  they 
have  never  tried  to  learn.  The  vast  majority  are 
just  simply  too  lazy  to  put  their  thinkers  in  order 
and  to  use  them.  And  this  is  so,  curiously 
enough,  notwithstanding  that  constructive  men- 
tal action  is  a  great  delight  as  well  as  by  far  the 
most  practically  productive  process  of  the  mind. 
A  few  of  my  readers  may  here  be  "thinking"  or 
even  saying  in  annoyance,  "I  did  not  buy  this 
book  to  be  accused  of  laziness."  No  indeed,  you 
did  not,  but  some  of  you  did  buy  it  to  learn 
how  to  learn  easily,  and  one  of  the  most  essential 
things  to  be  learned  for  this  purpose  is  the  utter 
incompatibility  of  learning  and  indolence.     Were 


200  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

it  otherwise,  learning  would  be  of  relatively 
little  financial  use,  for  every  common  millionaire 
would  be  a  thinker,  and  each  whilom  tramp  a 
millionaire. 

He  who  really  thinks  can  never  become  con- 
ceited over  his  supposed  learning.  We  may 
adopt  the  traditional  colored  preacher's  attempt 
to  make  massive  the  idea  of  infinity  despite  the 
simile's  inconsistencies  on  close  examination : 
imagine  a  small  bird  hopping  to  and  fro  from 
Boston  to  San  Francisco,  carrying  at  each  west- 
ward trip  a  mouthful  of  water  from  the  Atlantic 
into  the  Pacific  Ocean :  when  the  Atlantic  at  last 
was  empty  —  this  was  this  man's  suggestion  of 
an  infinitely  future  time.  But  so  is  human 
thought  in  comparison  with  the  eternal  miracle 
of  Reality.  Its  eternal  interest  is  a  vast  de- 
light, and  the  interest  "grows  with  what  it  feeds 
upon."  Our  thought  and  imagination  grow  best 
when  the  mind  is  fresh,  for  then  the  neurons  are 
stimulated  and  actuated  by  the  desire  for  ac- 
tivity. Sleep  and  play  are  as  essential  for  think- 
ing as  for  other  biologic  things.  In  thought, 
more  than  in  any  other  mode  of  action,  the 
mind  makes  profit  out  of  sudden  gleams  of  light, 
out  of  inspirations ;    and  play  often  stimulates 


IS  YOUR   "THINKER"   IN  ORDER?    201 

the  imagination  and  leads  to  the  development 
of  something  new  in  thought. 

The  time  of  day  in  relation  to  the  quality  and 
the  quantity  of  the  work  accomplished  in  think- 
ing has  much  practical  importance  in  the  long 
run,  and  despite  widely-varying  personal  habits 
of  work  and  sleep  and  play  the  scientific  status 
of  the  matter  has  worth  while  practical  interest. 
Professor  W.  H.  Heck,  of  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, has  studied  the  matter  by  grading  the 
arithmetical  reasoning  of  255  girls  and  212  boys 
(average  age  14.2  years)  in  a  grammar  school. 
"The  number  of  examples  done  in  the  after- 
noon was  0.68  per  cent  greater  than  in  the  morn- 
ing ;  the  per  cent  of  examples  right  in  the  after- 
noon was  3.22  per  cent,  less  than  in  the  morning." 
This  result  has  been  corroborated  by  like  work 
done  at  Lynchburg  and  in  New  York.  Thus  we 
see  that  while  the  speed  of  such  thinking  in  the 
afternoon  is  practically  that  of  the  forenoon,  the 
accuracy  is  distinctly  less.  I  have  the  impres- 
sion derived  both  from  personal  experience  and 
from  sundry  researches,  that  the  most  produc- 
tive hours  in  the  whole  twenty-four,  qualitatively 
and  quantitatively  together,  are  the  hours  from 
10 :  30   a.m.    to    12 :  30   p.m.     Then   certainly   the 


202  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

quality  is  at  its  highest,  and  this  is  particularly  true 
of  creative  work  —  thought  in  its  broadest  sense. 
For  the  integration  of  our  thinking  in  a  broad 
way  and  for  making  our  opinions  and  ideas  at 
once  more  coherent,  more  intensive,  and  more 
conscious,  no  method  exceeds  in  usefulness  that 
of  writing  definite  articles  or  essays,  each  with 
some  topic-title  not  too  narrow.  Obviously  for 
learning  purposes  this  is  the  often-hated  "com- 
position" of  our  early  school-life  —  hated  often- 
times just  because  its  writing  involved  the  com- 
pletion of  a  certain  definite  amount  of  real  mental 
activity  in  a  definite  time.  This  is  a  kind  of  debt 
to  our  education  which  may  not  be,  like  "Micaw- 
ber's"  note-debts,  paid  always  with  other  notes, 
other  promises  to  do.  Writing,  as  Francis  Bacon 
reminds  us,  "maketh  an  exact  man,"  but  writing, 
too,  makes  a  boy  or  girl,  as  well  as  a  man,  not 
only  consciously  aware  of  what  is  known  and 
thought  in  his  more  or  less  hidden  mind,  but 
makes  that  more  precise  and  its  relations  round 
about  more  real.  And  also  more  numerous. 
In  other  words,  writing  much  on  set  topics  not  too 
narrow,  clarifies  and  extends  our  ideas  and  makes 
them  also  more  dynamic.  Nothing  else,  unless  it 
be  active  oral  debate,  can  do  this  either  so  eco- 
nomically or  so  well. 


CHAPTER  VI 

EXAMINATION-PREPAREDNESS 

All  kinds  of  instructors  who  hold  examinations 
frequently  suggest  that  the  direfully  dreaded 
"exams"  will  take  care  of  themselves  if  sys- 
tematic work  be  done  vigorously  and  conscien- 
tiously throughout  the  course.  This  statement 
may  be  cordially  emphasized,  although,  however 
true  and  important  it  may  be,  there  is  little  hope 
of  making  students,  male  or  female,  young  or  old, 
married  or  single,  civil  service  or  naval,  in  the 
elementary  school  or  in  the  university,  indolents 
or  "greasy  grinds",  believe  it  long  enough  to  act 
upon  it  to  any  appreciably  profitable  extent. 
They  never  have  done  so  (save  one  or  two  wise 
ones  here  and  there)  and  they  probably  never 
will !  Nevertheless  the  fact  holds  that  if  we  do 
study  properly  and  conscientiously  and  scientifi- 
cally, the  examinations  will  take  care  of  themselves. 
There  are  a  number  of  reasons  why  the  matter 
is   important,   but  one   that  is   very   important 

203 


204  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

concerns  the  effect  of  worry  on  the  mind.  But 
work  counts  too.  On  the  marking  system  of  E 
upward  to  A,  if  we  take  our  ease  we  shall  get 
E's  and  not  A's.     Ease  and  E's  go  together. 

The  chief  requirements  of  proper  study  for  this 
specific  purpose  of  "making  good"  on  exams, 
may  be  divided  into  three  parts.  (1)  The  entire 
necessity  for  conscientious,  thoughtful  study;  for 
an  adequate  amount  of  real  study  with  the  attention 
complete.  It  seems  surprising  that  students  do 
not  effectively  take  for  granted  this  matter  of 
plain  common  sense.  (2)  The  keeping  of  our  notes 
posted  up  daily  in  the  brain,  and  thus  everything 
we  learn  integrated  with  the  preceding  acquire- 
ments. If  we  have  taken  no  notes,  we  should 
begin  to  make  some  from  our  lectures  and  our 
textbooks,  and  from  our  memory,  for  these  will 
certainly  be  better  than  anything  else  for  this 
examination  purpose.  (3)  To  get  a  good  exam- 
ination mark,  we  should  have  somehow  a  weekly  or 
at  least  a  monthly  review,  because,  as  we  have  seen 
already,  review  is  the  chief  means  to  the  integra- 
tion of  any  subject  in  our  minds.  Notes  should  be 
kept  on  the  analytic  plan  of  complexes  or  symbols 
which  have  been  already  explained,  headings,  sub- 
headings, and  so  on,  on  rational  systematic  lines. 


EXAMINATION-PREPAREDNESS        205 

Such  subconscious  preparation  is  theoretically 
the  best  and  proper  way.  Examinations  are 
incidents,  and  not  ends,  and  they  are  a  necessary 
evil  to  every  instructor,  even  more  than  to  every 
student.  If  study  for  examination  is  done  along 
these  lines,  in  this  general  manner,  learning  is 
really  learning.  In  addition  there  is  no  worry. 
No  worry-excitement  arises  in  the  mind,  as  the 
"critical"  time  approaches,  no  phobia  to  disturb 
and  even  undermine  the  mental  and  bodily  pro- 
cesses, and  to  disarrange  the  ready  association 
of  ideas.  There  is  a  vast  waste  of  energy  in  worry ; 
fear  (worry  is  fear)  starves  the  brain  by  using  up 
on  itself  its  food  over-fast. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  prospect  and  the  cer- 
tainty of  an  examination  provide  the  requisite 
emotional  tone  to  give  study  its  necessary  con- 
creteness  and  practicality.  Examination  is  thus 
an  incentive  to  vigorous  study  and  therefore  more 
or  less  necessary  educatively  as  well  as  merely 
expedient.  If  these  ' '  ordeals  "had  not  been  shown 
to  be  necessary  by  centuries  of  world-wide  expe- 
rience, it  is  absolutely  certain  they  would  have 
been  abandoned,  for  they  constitute  to  the  con- 
scientious teacher  and  instructor  the  most  dis- 
agreeable  and   laborious   portion   of   the   entire 


206  HOW  TO  LEARN   EASILY 

educative  work.  But  at  present  examinations 
are  undoubtedly  a  necessary  factor  in  the  process 
of  real  learning.  Nothing  can  take  their  im- 
portant part,  nothing,  at  least,  that  is  now  over 
the  pedagogic  horizon. 

Theoretically,  examinations  should  be  always 
at  unannounced  times,  thus  training  the  student 
in  continual  preparedness  and  insuring  a  degree 
of  attention  to  the  daily  work  which  can  be  ob- 
tained in  scarcely  any  other  way.  This  expecta- 
tion develops  the  important  subconscious  habit  of 
"attending  to  business."  It  trains,  too,  in  the 
power  of  suddenly  turning  our  attention  and 
then  of  using  it  to  its  utmost,  mental  dynamogeny. 
This,  as  President  A.  Lawrence  Lowell  of  Harvard 
University  points  out,  is  required  frequently  in 
real  life,  —  this  power  of  clearly  and  vigorously 
turning  our  mind  to  any  required  topic  on  demand 
at  an  unexpected  moment;  many  occupations 
depend  on  such  ability. 

Oral  Examinations.  Oral  examination  is  the 
ideal  form  of  them  all.  It  is  generally  far  more 
efficient  as  a  means  of  testing  our  ignorance  or 
knowledge  of  a  subject  than  is  a  written  exami- 
nation. The  universal  objection  to  the  oral  ex- 
amination is  that  it  requires  too  much  of  the 


EXAMINATION-PREPAREDNESS        207 

examiner's  time,  far  too  much  of  the  time  of  some 
costly  expert.  It  requires  less  on  the  part  of  the 
student  than  does  the  written  examination,  but 
greatly  more  on  that  of  the  instructor.  Any 
one,  however,  who  has  taken  a  university  doc- 
torate examination,  in  the  focus  of  a  concave 
mirror  of  kind  but  searching  inquisitors,  ap- 
preciates that  it  is  the  method  above  all  others 
for  finding  out  how  little  a  student  knows  about 
a  difficult  subject.  For  this  reason  oral  exam- 
ination is  coming  more  and  more  into  use.  Here 
it  is  possible  to  ask  fifty  questions  instead  of  five 
or  ten.  The  examiner  can  almost  see  the  associ- 
ational  machine  work,  and  therefore  can  judge  for 
himself  whether  it  be  adequate  or  not ;  he  sees 
the  living  mechanism  itself,  and  not  only  its 
product.  Theoretically,  there  should  be  more 
and  more  oral  examinations  in  all  kinds  of  schools, 
in  the  higher  grade-schools,  for  example,  as  soon 
as  it  may  be  arranged ;  this  matter  is  making 
progress,  especially  in  the  medical  schools. 

Written  examinations  are  a  make-shift,  but  they 
are  much  better  than  nothing.  Oral  examinations 
are  far  more  psychological  than  written  ones,  and 
give  the  really  efficient  mind  and  knowledge  a 
much  better  chance.     About  as  many,  I  take  it, 


208  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

are  handicapped  mentally  by  the  inability  to 
write  explicitly  as  are  disparaged  by  the  inability 
to  talk  quickly,  briefly,  and  intelligently.  So 
far  as  the  student's  welfare  is  concerned,  there 
is  no  good  reason  to  suppose  that  oral  examina- 
tions would  be  a  handicap.  On  the  contrary,  in 
the  long  run,  the  widely  demanded  training  in 
self-possession,  in  repartee,  wit,  quick  reply, 
would  be  of  much  use  to  almost  everyone.  This, 
too,  is  at  heart  a  matter  of  adequate  physical 
training,  as  "skill",  already  sufficiently  discussed. 
Oral  examinations  require  self-poise  above  all 
else  save  real  knowledge.  Both  require  a  reason- 
able expression-intelligence. 

Practical  Examinations  such  as  are  given  in 
physiology,  physics,  chemistry,  and  similar  sub- 
jects are  the  ideal  examinations.  Their  uni- 
versal unpopularity  shows  well  enough  their  value 
and  their  difficulty.  They  are  the  only  kind  of 
examination  that  show  our  real  and  practical 
efficiency.  They  make  a  test  of  what  we  can  do, 
actually  perform,  rather  than  what  we  have 
merely  learned  about,  second  hand.  Undoubtedly 
they  are  overdone  in  some  professional  schools. 
The  proper  place  in  general  for  the  practical  ex- 
amination   is    in    the    normal    school,    for    there 


EXAMINATION-PREPAREDNESS        209 

teachers  are  trained,  and  they  must  know  how 
things  actually  should  be  done. 

Writing  Examinations.  In  written  examina- 
tions, at  least,  knowledge  as  to  the  range  and  kind 
of  questions  asked  in  previous  examinations  is  a 
right  and  not  a  privilege.  The  possible  scope  and 
methods  are  very  numerous,  and  the  student, 
therefore,  necessarily  has  a  right  to  "get  the 
range"  of  the  examiner,  and  of  the  subject  as  he 
presents  it.  If  the  previous  examination-papers 
are  on  display,  it  is  certainly  the  psychological 
duty  of  each  student  to  get  access  to  them  in 
some  way  or  other;  no  competent  examiner  will 
refuse  this,  although  it  will  make  the  thoughtful 
work  of  preparing  his  examinations  more  arduous. 

The  personality,  too,  of  the  examiner  is  worth  a 
bit  of  careful  study.  Strange  as  it  may  seem  to 
young  pupils,  the  usual  instructor  has  fads  and 
habits  much  like  other  folks.  Here  is  where 
general,  human,  natural  intelligence  comes  to  the 
aid  of  the  students.  In  certain  cases,  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  examiner  is  only  less  important  than 
knowledge  of  the  subject  of  the  examination. 
This  is  a  personal,  confidential  point  which  should 
not  be  published  widely,  for  some  non-human 
logicians  do  not  yet  understand  the  need  for  a 


210  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

knowledge  of  the  motivity  of  human  behaviour 
and  possibly  might  deny  their  humanity. 

Plenty  of  sleep  for  a  week  or  more  before  an 
examination  is  well  worth  whatever  time  it  costs. 
Every  hour  so  spent  is  worth  at  least  treble 
what  you  might  expect  unless  you  understand - 
the  efficiency-advantage  of  rested  brain-units 
over  those  that  are  fatigued.  Sleep  clears  the 
cobwebs  out  of  the  brain  and  memory,  so  that 
the  nine  billions  or  so  of  neurons  can  work  in 
association  far  better  than  when  they  are  fatigued. 

General  invigoration  of  the  entire  organism 
greatly  improves  the  memory  and  the  reasoning 
powers.  Therefore  much  outdoor  exercise  is 
especially  highly  expedient  during  the  few  weeks 
before  examination-time.  In  this  way  we  tone 
up  the  whole  organism  and  put  it,  as  the  athletes 
say,  "on  edge."  At  examination  time  it  is  de- 
sirable that  the  digestive  tract  be  in  good  working 
order.  Thus  we  may  avoid  that  feeling  of  toxe- 
mic headache  and  general  malaise  which  is  in- 
compatible with  clear  thinking  and  with  accurate 
work. 

A  light  breakfast  or  a  light  lunch  of  easily 
digested  food  is  necessary  before  an  examination, 
on  the  physiological  principle  that  the  blood,  which 


EXAMINATION-PREPAREDNESS        211 

is  limited  in  quantity,  cannot  be  both  in  the  brain 
and  in  the  stomach  at  the  same  time.  On  the 
other  hand,  a  hungry  person  cannot  think  readily, 
(nor  can  a  cold  person).  This  light  meal,  a  short 
time  before  an  examination,  might  very  well 
include  a  cup  of  coffee  or  tea,  not  too  strong, 
provided  the  student  is  accustomed  to  its  use. 
This  is  obviously  not  a  good  time  to  try  experi- 
ments as  to  the  personal  reaction  towards  drugs 
of  any  kind.  Alcohol  is  harmful  to  all  mental 
(and  bodily)  effort. 

A  student  sometimes  gains  much  by  looking  over 
the  entire  material  of  the  examination  immediately 
before  the  examination-hour.  A  large  amount 
should  be  surveyed  in  a  short  time,  —  ten  minutes 
or  so  on  the  whole  subject  matter,  —  not  by  any 
means  a  long  time  enough  to  tire  the  reader. 
In  practice  this  is  often  extremely  productive  in 
suggesting  partly  forgotten  facts  and  principles 
which  (as  experience  shows)  are  just  those  re- 
quired a  short  time  later. 

If  the  examination  is  to  be  written,  prepare  at 
least  two  fountain  pens,  well  filled  and  clean. 
Or  sharpen  four  or  five  pencils  which  are  neither 
too  hard  nor  too  soft.  Or  have  both.  If  the  pen- 
cils are  too  hard,  the  examiner  is  apt  to  be  reduced 


212  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

to  mild  pedagogic  anger  when  he  reads  the  "book"  ; 
whereas  if  they  are  too  soft,  it  is  difficult  to  make 
a  neat  paper.  This  matter  of  writing-materials 
is  far  more  important  than  the  average  student 
is  apt  to  consider,  so  if  "marks"  be  of  any  ob- 
ject (and  sometimes  they  appear  so  to  the  ex- 
aminee !)  we  might  follow  to  good  advantage  the 
habit  of  the  newspaper-men  who  use  a  large  num- 
ber of  soft  pencils  and  write  large  and  legible 
script.  Did  students  in  general  take  these  mat- 
ters into  consideration  fewer  examiners  would 
sympathize  with  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  when  he 
says  in  his  "Journal":  "What  a  pity  that  we 
cannot  curse  and  swear  in  good  society.  My 
page  about  consistency  would  be  better  written 
thus:  'Damn  Consistency'"  —  which  is  good 
psychology  for  several  reasons. 

So  much  for  a  few  practical  points  as  to  pre- 
paring for  an  examination ! 

The  next  search  is  as  to  the  scientific  manner 
of  actually  doing  the  examination.  Our  mental 
attitude  as  we  actually  approach  this  concrete 
problem  is  of  the  utmost  importance.  We  should 
set  about  an  important  examination  with  a  grim 
determination  to  "eat  it  up"  bodily,  as  the  stu- 
dents  say.      This   is  jwhat   we   mean   by   dyna- 


EXAMINATION-PREPAREDNESS        213 

mogeny,  which  has  been  already  referred  to  in 
previous  pages.  This  appears  psychologically  in 
the  form  of  a  conscious  determination,  a  powerful 
determination  reinforced  by  a  strong  self-sug- 
gested feeling  of  encouragement;  it  is  auto-sug- 
gestion plus  an  emotional  tone.  Since  the  work  in 
Cannon's  laboratory,  we  realize  that  this  dyna- 
mogeny  depends  in  part  on  the  increased  amount, 
however,  minute,  of  adrenin  in  the  blood,  but 
especially,  perhaps,  an  increased  supply  of  sugar 
there.  This  "dynamogeny"  is  a  matter  of 
great  and  practical  importance,  and  no  longer  the 
perfect  mystery  that  it  used  to  be.  This  is  an 
extremely  important  power,  and  for  the  writing 
of  an  examination  or  the  doing  otherwise  of  an 
examination,  it  may  mean  all  the  difference  in  the 
world,  even  all  the  contrast  between  failure  and 
success.  In  the  same  way  the  man  who  is  shaken 
into  pneumonia  with  a  firm  determination  that 
it  shall  not  kill  him,  enjoys  a  far  better  chance 
that  it  really  will  not  kill  him  than  does  one  who 
is  over-frightened  by  the  prospect  of  undergoing 
this  sad  and  irresponsible  disease.  There  is  a 
force  in  this  human  organism  of  ours  which  it 
would  be  difficult  sometimes  to  stay  in  bounds, 
and  this  force  can  be  used  in  the  successful  per- 


214  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

formance  of  examinations  as  well  as  elsewhere. 
Reduced  to  scientific  terms,  it  means  the  more 
or  less  controllable  force  of  the  influence  of  the 
mind  over  the  body  to  which  there  is  at  present 
no  assignable  limit. 

As  we  enter  an  examination-room,  if  there  be 
any  choice,  we  should  choose  a  good  light  without 
having  to  face  the  unprotected  brightness  of  the 
open  sunny  sky,  which  would  in  varying  degree 
irritate  the  brain.  We  should  choose  a  place 
where  there  is  ample  rest  for  the  elbows,  for 
combined  all  of  these  minor  subconscious  strains 
on  the  central  nervous  system  count  in  a  long  and 
fatiguing  examination  and  help  to  weary  and 
retard  the  action  of  the  brain.  We  should  choose 
a  cool  rather  than  a  warm  place  in  the  room. 
We  should  insist  that  the  room  should  be  ade- 
quately and  amply  ventilated,  because  it  is  better 
that  it  should  be  open  to  the  air  than  too  re- 
stricted. The  ideal  approximates  to  good  out- 
door conditions  of  breeze  and  dampness.  The 
best  temperature  is  65°  Fahrenheit,  for  the  excite- 
ment and  the  attention  of  the  work  is  sure  to 
raise  the  personal  temperature  somewhat  and 
this,  in  combination  with  a  too  warm  atmosphere, 
would  produce  a  flow  of  sweat  which  would  be 


EXAMINATION-PREPAREDNESS        215 

uncomfortable  and  so  distract  thoughtful  at- 
tention. On  the  other  hand  a  chilly  person  can- 
not think  readily. 

As  in  all  other  forms  of  long  mental  strain,  the 
wise  student  frequently  will  rest  his  eyes  and  the 
muscles  of  his  head  and  neck  by  looking  around 
the  room.  This  changes  (lengthens)  the  focus 
of  the  eyes  and  thereby  rests  all  parts  of  this 
extremely  delicate  seeing-mechanism.  At  least 
once  in  every  fifteen  minutes  a  minute  or  two 
is  used  with  the  greatest  economy  in  looking 
around. 

It  is  almost  impracticable  to  say  much  about 
penmanship.  The  matter  is  undoubtedly  an 
important  one  from  the  student's  point  of  view, 
and  not  less  so  certainly  than  from  the  examiner's. 
The  obvious  fact  is  that  plain  writing  in  the  long 
run  of  emotional  examiners  distinctly  tends  to- 
ward high  marks.  The  writing  must  not  be  too 
fine  or  faint,  such  as  that  made  with  a  very  hard 
drawing-pencil;  and  it  must  not  be  too  difficult 
to  read  because  of  poor  handwriting.  Relative 
illegibility  puts  the  examiner  in  bad  humor  and 
that  is  a  bad  "policy"  for  the  examinee.  It  is 
worth  while  to  put  plainly  on  the  examination- 
question  papers  given  to  the  students  that  "the 


216  HOW  TO   LEARN  EASILY 

answers  should  be  concise  and  systematic,  and 
the  writing  must  be  plain." 

It  is  inexpedient  to  enlarge  here  upon  the 
necessity  of  good  English,  yet  there  is,  none  the 
less,  a  widespread  tendency  in  schools  of  all  grades 
in  the  United  States  to  use  the  English  of  all 
written  examinations,  if  not  those  that  are  oral, 
as  a  test  of  the  general  intelligence.  This  is  one 
of  the  important  things  for  the  advancement  of 
general  intelligence.  The  reading  and  the  grad- 
ing of  examinations  is  positively  the  worst  of  all 
school-work,  especially  where  the  school  is  large. 
One  instructor  I  know  reads  more  than  thirteen 
hundred  "exam-books"  in  a  college  year !  Under 
these  conditions  we  should  expect  that  the  feel- 
ings of  the  average  examiner  would  be  unable  to 
stand  much  further  strain  and  remain  free  from 
uncontrollable  resentment.  Therefore  write  good 
legible  English,  on  the  general  principle,  if  on  no 
other  basis. 

Do  not  think  that  an  examiner  is  going  to  take 
anything  "for  granted";  theoretically  he  should 
not  and  in  practice  he  may  not.  Details,  then 
and  explicitness  (facts)  are  wholly  necessary  for 
the  securing  of  high  marks.  It  is  statements, 
true    statements,  showing    knowledge  and  under- 


EXAMINATION-PREPAREDNESS        217 

standing,  that  count;  the  more  of  them,  the 
more  credit-marks  a  student  receives.  But  ob- 
serve that  not  all  words  are  statements !  far 
from  it.  Using  the  slang  because  of  its  explicit- 
ness,  all  "hot  air"  should  be  left  out  of  an  exam- 
ination. It  wastes  the  good  humor  of  the  exam- 
iner, which  is  a  very  costly  kind  of  waste  under 
the  circumstances.  It  is  ideas  in  general,  not 
words,  that  count :  in  fact,  words  that  do  not 
express  any  ideas  are  rather  worse  than  nothing, 
because  they  waste  the  time  and  precious  patience 
of  the  examiner.  It  is  obvious  that  in  many  re- 
spects the  examination  is  a  test  between  the  stu- 
dent and  his  examiner. 

Pictures  and  diagrams,  especially  when  labelled 
and  explained  by  text,  are  an  ideal  way  of  partly 
writing  an  examination,  and  oftentimes  students 
deficient  in  the  power  of  good  English  or  of  good 
handwriting,  can  remember  pictures  and  sketch 
and  label  them  when  they  cannot  describe  ex- 
plicitly the  conditions.  This  in  itself  is  an  im- 
portant power  of  education,  this  faculty  of 
remembering,  of  understanding,  and  of  repro- 
ducing pictures  and  diagrams,  and  here  of  great 
and  granted  use. 

In  long  examinations  where  the  hours  are  apt 


218  HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

to  be  crowded,  as  in  many  professional  exami- 
nations, the  examiner  should  not  object  to  the 
syllabus  style.  Schematic  arrangement  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  in  writing  a  paper  which  is 
to  be  high-marked.  We  have  called  attention 
to  this  matter  already  —  sub-divisions  under 
properly  logical  headings.  We  may  be  sure  that 
an  examiner  will  always  appreciate  this  arrange- 
ment, for  it  relieves  him  of  needless  work  and 
shows,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  student  really 
understands,  in  a  psychological  way,  the  material 
which  he  has  offered.  Conciseness  is  important, 
but  conciseness  is  not  necessarily  brevity;  it 
means  brevity  only  so  far  as  consistent  with  full- 
ness and  clearness  —  the  omission  of  unnecessary 
words. 

Good  humor  is  important,  as  in  other  situations 
in  life,  in  this  writing  of  examinations,  and  still 
more  in  an  oral  examination.  Here  the  native 
intelligence  of  many  individuals  shows  itself  to 
the  best  advantage,  as  they  realize,  for  dons  and 
professors,  and  even  state  boards  of  registration, 
are  human  after  all,  little  as  some  students  sus- 
pect it.  All  our  wits  and  a  bit  of  wit!  might  be  our 
motto.  But  not  too  much  humor,  and  not  too 
much  wit,  for  some  examiners  think  it  undignified 


EXAMINATION-PREPAREDNESS        219 

to  smile,  and  so  discount  the  work  of  the  humor- 
ous student.  Flattery  and  titles  are  absolutely 
fatal  in  an  examination,  for  the  average  examiner 
will  not  stand  them.  In  general,  confidential 
notes  appealing  to  some  person  who  is  interested 
or  to  personal  relations  of  the  examiner  are  not 
highly  productive  of  scholastic  success  —  nor  are 
graphic  pictures  on  the  last  page  (such  as  have 
been  seen)  showing  a  weeping  female  on  her 
knees  begging  for  A's  (or  at  least  for  a  D). 

We  should  plan  out  the  entire  time  allotted  for 
the  examination,  allowing  so  many  minutes  for 
each  question  with  an  ample  time  for  review  — 
at  the  end.  It  is  a  good  plan,  having  done  this, 
to  remember  the  limit  of  time  to  be  devoted  to 
each  question  and,  if  necessary,  return  after- 
wards to  an  unfinished  answer.  On  the  other 
hand,  provided  the  question  can  be  satisfactorily 
answered  or  answered  as  fully  as  is  possible,  we 
should  go  immediately  to  the  next  question. 

It  is  an  extremely  common  error,  and  one  highly 
harmful  to  the  average  student,  to  hurry  through 
an  examination  and  not  really  think,  or  at  least 
succeed  in  recalling,  what  he  really  knows.  Ex- 
aminations test  intelligence  and  this  hurry  shows 
that  there  is  none  of  it  present.     There  is  no  excuse 


HOW  TO  LEARN  EASILY 

for  this,  save  in  highly  professional  examinations 
in  which  the  examinee  is  given  just  time  enough 
to  write  rapidly  what  he  should,  with  scarcely  a 
moment  at  all  for  search-thinking  or  for  recall. 
An  examination  ordinarily  should  give  some  time 
for  thought  on  each  question,  and  it  is  highly 
important  that  this  time  should  be  so  used. 

It  is  a  common  error,  also,  to  think  well  and  hard 
at  first,  to  push  the  mind  well  in  the  early  part  of 
the  examination,  but  to  stop  the  effort  when  a 
little  tired,  although  the  examination  be  only 
partly  completed,  the  latter  half,  even,  being 
slighted.  Examinations  test  the  entire  intelligence, 
or  they  should  do  so,  and  one  is  not  intelligent  or 
a  proper  student  whose  mind  is  so  little  trained  or 
so  weak  as  to  make  this  mistake.  The  old  trick 
of  writing  one-half,  or  as  much  as  may  be,  of  the 
paper  and  then  saying  the  "time  is  up"  or  "no 
time  to  finish,"  of  course  deceives  no  one.  The 
last  question  is  just  as  important  as  the  first  one, 
and  it  is  the  student's  business  to  be  sure  that  it  be 
answered  as  well  as  the  first,  if  he  be  looking  for 
good  marks.  Bluffing  is  dead  fatal  to  success  in 
the  long  run,  even  if  it  does  hit  the  pass-mark 
now  and  then.  This  occurs  as  a  pretense  of  having 
knowledge  which  we  know  perfectly  well  we  have 


EXAMINATION-PREPAREDNESS        221 

not,  trusting  that  the  hurried  examiner  will  mis- 
take mere  words  for  the  statements  required. 
We  might  expect  that  the  feminine  mind  would 
be  more  successful  in  this  than  the  masculine. 
We  should  not  confuse  this  with  intuition,  which 
is  appreciated  subconscious  knowledge.  Often- 
times there  is  more  in  our  subconscious  mind  than 
we  realize  and  only  by  the  actual  expressive  motor 
reaction  of  trying  to  write  it  do  the  associations 
which  occur  in  the  mind  show  themselves  in 
consciousness. 

We  should  not  judge  an  examiner's  mind  by  our 
own.  It  is  generally  true  and  germane,  explicit, 
ideas  that  count,  and  not  our  particular  notions 
of  these  essential  ideas. 

Examinations  require  above  all  things  else  (save 
learning)  self-possession  for  a  highly  successful 
outcome.  Adequate  physical  training,  systematic 
and  continuous,  will  help  us  to  this  self-possession 
like  nothing  else  save  actual  practice  in  this  highly 
human  educational  art.  To  avoid  examinations 
is  to  cheat  our  learning  mind ;  to  flunk  them,  to 
cheat  ourselves. 


INDEX 


A's  vs.  ease,  204. 

Abbreviations,  71. 

Abstracting,  130,  145  f. 

Accuracy  of  thinking,  201. 

Adjustment,  45 ;  and  see  Skill. 

Affect,  82,  212. 

Affectation  of  studiousness,  119. 

Air,  18. 

Alcohol,  211. 

Allen,  Grant,  12. 

Allotment  of  examination-time, 

219. 
Amateur  printing,  133  ff. 
Analytic    plan    in    note-taking, 

68  f,  204,  218. 
Angell,  J.  R.,  78. 
Artists,  11. 
Attention,  58,  103,  191  f. 

Bacon,  Francis,  116,  144,  202. 
Bain,  A.,  12. 
Bair,  J.  H.,  182. 
Bechterew,  V.  M.,  56. 
Bell,  J.  C,  x,  140. 
Bentham,  Jeremy,  12. 
Berle,  A.  A.,  131,  189. 
Best  of  life,  43. 
Bibliographies,  146  f. 
Blots  of  ink,  86,  94  f,  164. 
Bluffing,  220  f. 
Body,  sanction  of,  50. 
Book,  W.  F.,  10. 
Book-English,  131  f. 
Books,  116. 
Bradley,  F.  H.,  172. 


Brain-training,  195. 
Browning,  Robert,  198. 

Cannon,  W.  B.,  123,  213. 

Care-freedom,  104. 
"Cat-naps  ",  21. 
Cattell,  J.  McK.,  48,  175. 
Change,  impulse  to,  14. 
Choice  of  books,  116. 
"Christian  Science",  114. 
Coffee,  211. 

Collateral  reading,  2,  136,  139. 
Companionship  with  scholars,  3. 
Complexes  in  the  mind,  107  ff., 

185  ff. 
Concentration-periods,  22. 
Concepts,  see  Words. 
Conciseness,  217  f. 
Conditioned  reflexes,  56  f. 
Conscious  study,  13. 
Constructive  imagination,  84  f. 
Control  of  self,  114. 
Conversation,  30. 
Coriat,  I.  H.,  24. 
Cramming,  28  f,  122  f,  125. 
Cranks,  139. 
Creation-time,  142,  201  f. 

Debate,  202. 

Deduction,  111. 

Definition  of  education,  35,  38. 

Details,  216. 

Determination  to  learn,  125. 

Dewey,  John,  148  f. 

Diagrams,  29,  71  f,  112,  217. 


223 


224 


INDEX 


Dictionary,  113,  130  f. 
Difficulty  of  being  educated,  42. 
Directions    for    practical    work, 

59  f. 
Discussion,  30. 
Distractions,  14. 
Doing,  25,  59. 

Dollar-value  of  education,  34  f. 
Dozing,  15. 
Drawing,  64,  71  f. 
Drill-periods,  192  f. 
Drudgery,  3. 
Dubois,  Paul,  24. 
Dynamic  aspect  of  mind,  41  f, 

174,  176,  189  f. 
Dynamogeny,    9,    122    ff,    206, 

212  f. 

Ease  vs.  A's,  204. 

Eating,  210. 

Economics  of  an  education,  34. 

of  happiness,  44  ff. 

Economy,  ix,  1. 
Educative  imagination,  77. 
Effort  in  learning,  43  f. 
Ehrlich,  Paul,  111. 
Elective  system,  83. 
Eliot,  C.  W.,  49,  63  ff. 
Emerson,  R.  W.,  116,  149  f,  212. 
Emotional  tone,  82,  212. 
English,  113,  131  ff,  189,  216. 
Essays,  202. 
Euphoria,  18. 
Examination-room,  214. 
Examination-preparedness,  203  ff . 
Examinations,  28. 
Examination,  oral,  206  ff. 

practical,  208  f. 

written,  209  f. 

Examiner,  209,  218  f. 
Exercise,  17  f.     See  also  Physi- 
cal Training. 
Explanation  in  lectures,  74. 


Explicitness  of  observation,  45. 

statements,  216  f. 

Eye-strain,  142,  215. 

Factors  in  educating,  152. 
Facts,  216. 
False-study,  15. 
Fatigue,  8,  14. 
Feeble-mindedness,  47,  49. 
Feeling-imagination,  110.      j 
"Feeling"  of  likeness,  170. 
Feeling-tone,  82. 
Fernald,  W.  E.,  49. 
Fetishes,  141. 
Fiske,  John,  40. 
Food,  18. 
Force,  99. 
Forgetting,  76,  105. 

Good  humor,  218. 
Grace,  109. 
Graphs,  72. 

Habit,  80,  195  f. 
Habit-bending,  196. 
Hall-Quest,  A.  L.,  39  ff. 
Hand-writing,  215. 
Happiness    is    dynamogenic,    ( 

191. 
Harvey,  N.  A.,  12. 
Headache,  17. 
Health,  16  f. 
Hearing,  25. 
Heck,  W.  H,  201. 
Helmholtz,  37. 
Hot  air,  214  f,  217. 
Human  nature,  119. 
Hurry,  219  f. 
Huxley,  T.  H,  35  f. 
Hypertension,  21. 

Idea-germs,  133. 
Idea-picking,  144. 


INDEX 


225 


Ideational  physiology,  178  ff. 
Illiterates,  43. 
Imagination,  26,  77.  85  ff. 
Imitation,  24. 
Index,  stheneuphoric,  4. 
"  The  Influence  of  Joy",  x,  4. 
Ingenuity,  109,  112. 
Inhibition,    the   essence   of   hu- 
manity, 13. 
Initiative,  112,  152. 
Ink-blots,  86,  94  f,  164. 
Inspirations,  159. 
Integration  in  observation,  45. 
Intelligence  of  women,  157. 
Intensive  effort,  28  f,  122,  125. 
Intensive  use  of  books,  121,  141. 
Interest,  1  f,  39,  46,  188. 
Intuition,  152  ff,  158. 
Investment,  vii,  34. 

James,   William,   20,   75,    106, 

108. 
Janet,  P.,  24. 
Jelliffe,  S.  E.,  24. 
Joy,  influence  of,  4. 

Kinesthesia,    163.      See    also 

Skill. 
King,  Irving,  117. 

Labor,  117. 
Laboratory-work,  59. 
Laws  of  association,  98. 
Laziness,  2,  199. 
Lectures,  16,  74. 
Leisure  in  school,  197. 
Libraries,  2,  147. 
Light  for  reading,  142. 

writing,  214. 

Likeness  and  unlikeness,  164  ff. 
Lodge,  Oliver,  113. 
Logic,  158,  182  ff. 
Logical  notes,  68. 


Lowell,  A.  Lawrence,  206. 
Lunch,  210  f. 

McMurry,  F.  M.,  136. 

Marshall,  H.  R.,  12. 

Massiveness  of  ideas,  106. 

Mayman,  J.  E.,  61  f. 

Melody,  the  learning  of  a,  100  ff. 

Memory,  27,  67,  79. 

Mental  complexes,  107  ff. 

Meyer,  Max,  12. 

Mill,  J.  S.,  12. 

Modes  of  instruction,  61  f. 

Money-value  of  joy,  4  f. 

Morgan,  Lloyd,  161. 

Motor  learning,  viii.    See  Skill. 

Muller,  Max,  190. 

Miinsterberg,  H.,  12,  53  ff. 

Muscle-adaptation  (perception), 

47. 
Music,  63  f. 
Myers,  G.  C,  125. 

Names  as  concept-handles,  92, 

99. 
Nerve-waste,  17. 
"New  Thought",  114. 
Note-books,  70  f . 
Notes,  75,  142,  204. 
Note-taking,  26  f,  44,  129,  142. 

Observation,  44,  119. 

"On  edge"  for  examination,  210. 

Opportunity  for  thought,  196. 

Oral  debate,  202. 

Oral  examination,  206  ff. 

Organic  imagination,  113. 

Originality,  109. 

Over-soul,  156. 

Own  words,  74. 

Pain,  8. 

Parker,  Gilbert,  148. 


INDEX 


Pavlov,  J.  P.,  108. 

Pencils,  211  f,  213. 

Penmanship,  215. 

Pens,  211  f. 

Perception,  47.     See  also  Skill. 

Performance,  101,  104. 

Periodicals,  146. 

Permanency  of  impression,  108 

f. 
Persistence,  109. 
Personality  of  examiner,  209  f. 
Pestalozzi,  H.,  26,  53. 
"Petering-out",  220. 
Peterson,  H.  A.,  72. 
Physical    education,    191.      See 

also  Physical  training. 
Physical    training     (skill),    viii, 

52  ff,  57,  81,  99,  109,  121, 

163,  181,  191,  208,  221. 
Physics,  61  f. 
Physiologic  requisites  for  study, 

16  ff. 
Physiology  of  ideation,  178  ff. 
Play,  ix,  200. 
Play-work  at  home,  62. 
Plot,  141. 

Poincare,  H.,  24,  158  ff. 
Posting-up  of  notes,  28  f,  75. 
Practical  examination,  208  f. 

work,  59,  73  f. 

Precision  of  mind,  36  f. 

Prefaces,  143. 

Preparedness    for    examination, 

203  ff. 
Prince,    Morton,   24,  36  ff,  107, 

185. 
Printing-presses,  133  ff. 
Profanity,  212. 
Psychology,  vii  f . 
Pyle,  W.  H.,  128,  192  f. 

Questions,  209. 
Quick  learning,  128. 


Quick  summary  before  examina- 
tion, 211. 

Ratiocination,  100. 

Reaction,  35,  39,  42,  174,  176, 

189. 
Reading  of  children,  140. 
Reading-light,  142. 
Reflexes,  conditioned,  56  f. 
Reform    in    educating,    31,   47, 

50  ff,  62  ff. 
Relaxation,  20  f. 
Repetition,  55,  105. 
Reproductive  imagination,  79  ff. 
Rest,  194. 
Retention,  128. 

of  text-books,  135. 

Re  very,  161. 

Reviewing,  29  f,  72  f,  81,  103  f, 

112,  204. 
Ribot,  Th.  A.,  24. 
Rote-learning,  16. 
Rules,  103,  199. 

Sanction  of  the  body,  50. 
Satisfaction  from  education,  43. 
Schematism  in  notes,  27  f,  68, 

218. 
School-time  leisure,  197. 
Scientific  American  Supplement, 

ix. 
Seashore,  C.  E.,  21. 
Seeing,  25. 
Self-possession,  221. 
Self-unrealization,  113  f. 
Sense-training,  45,  47  ff,  52. 
Sexual   characteristics,   tertiary, 

153. 
Sidis,  Boris,  41. 
Skill,  viii,  52  ff,  57,  81,  99,  109, 

121,  163,  181,  190  f,  221. 
Skill  and  learning,  26. 
Skimming,  143. 


INDEX 


227 


Sleep,  19,  21,  200,  210. 

Solitude,  196  f. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  12. 

Spinoza,  5  f. 

Starch,  Daniel,  22,  193. 

Stedman,  T.  L.,  ix. 

Stheneuphoric  index,  4  f,  7,  13, 

110. 
Sthenic  index,  13. 
Study,  13. 

requisites,  136. 

time,  117  f. 

"Stuffing,"  148. 
Sturt,  Henry,  69  f. 
Subconscious  ",  "  the,  24  f,  158 

ff,  185  ff. 
Subconscious  learning,   23,   104, 

158  ff. 
Suggestion,  113. 
Suzzallo,  Henry,  30. 
Swett,  I.  B.,  140. 
Syllabus-style,  218. 
Symbolism,  171. 
Synonyms  and  antonyms,   133, 

189. 

Tables  of  contents,  143. 
Taking  of  notes,  44. 
"Talks  to  Teachers",  20,  108. 
Tea,  211. 
Temperature,  214. 
Text-books,  120  ff. 

as  vertebrae,  120. 

in  variety,  30. 

Text-book  study,  121. 
"Thinker",  148,  150  f. 
Thinking,    3,    23,    161,    182   ff, 

187  ff,  199. 
Thomson,  J.  A.,  113. 
Thought,  see  Thinking. 
Time  of  day,  201  f. 


Tools,  37. 

Training,  physical,  see  Skill. 
Tranquillity,  20  f,  196  f. 
Travel,  46. 

Uniqueness  of  books,  144  f. 
Unlikeness,  164  ff,  173. 
Unscholarly  individuals,  1. 
U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education,  30, 

52. 
Utility  of  impressions,  109. 

Variety  of  text-books,  135  f. 

Verne,  Jules,  113. 

Viatility,  178  f. 

Viscera  in  emotion,  124  f. 

Visualizing,  26,  84. 

Vocabulary,  113,  130  f. 

Von  Hartmann,  Eduard,  24. 

Wallin,  J.  E.  W.,  136. 

Warren,  H.  C,  154. 

Waste,  11. 

Waste  in  schools,  31  ff. 

Watson,  J.  B.,  55  ff,  108. 

Wells,  H.  G.,  113. 

Wholeness,  29,  81. 

Will-to-learn,  39. 

Wit,  218. 

Wits,  218. 

Women's  intelligence,  157. 

Woodworth,  R.  S.,  126. 

Word-books,  see  Dictionary. 

Words,  113,  131  ff,  133,  189  ff, 

216. 
Work,  3,  117,  198. 
Worry,  8,  17,  114,  205,  213. 

" worth  to  God,"  198. 

Writing  examinations,  209  ff. 
Written  examination,  209  f. 


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